THE  DOCTOR 
HIS  WIFE  & 
THE  CLOCK 


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THE  DOCTOR 

HIS  WIFE 

AND  THE  CLOCK 


BY 
ANNA  KATHARINE  GREEN 

(MRS.  CHARLES  ROHLFS) 

Author  of  "  The  Leavenworth   Case,"   "  Hand  and 
Ring,"  "  Marked   '  Personal,'  "  etc.,  etc. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 

NEW    YORK  LONDON 

27  West  Twenty-third  Street  24  Bedford  Street,  Strand 

Z\t  Jtnichcrbochtr  ||rfss 
1895 


Copyright,  1895 

BY 

ANNA  KATHARINE  ROHLFS 
All  rights  reserved 


Electrotyped,  Printed  and  Bound  by 

"Cbc  ■Knickerbocker  press,  IHcw  L'orh 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 


THE  DOCTOR,  HIS  WIFE,  AND 
THE  CLOCK 


2200593 


The  Doctor,  his  Wife, 
and  the  Clock. 

I. 

ON  the  17th  of  July,  1851,  a 
tragedy  of  no  little  interest 
occurred  in  one  of  the  residences 
of  the  Colonnade  in  Lafayette 
Place. 

Mr.  Hasbrouck,  a  well-known 
and  highly  respected  citizen,  was 
attacked  in  his  room  by  an  un- 
known assailant,  and  shot  dead 
before  assistance  could  reach  him. 
His  murderer  escaped,  and  the 
problem  offered  to  the  police  was, 
how  to  identify  this  person  who, 
by  some  happy  chance  or  by  the 
3 


ttbe  t>octor,  bis  Mite 


exercise  of  the  most  remarkable 
forethought,  had  left  no  traces  be- 
hind him,  or  any  clue  by  which 
he  could  be  followed. 

The  affair  was  given  to  a  young 
man,  named  Ebenezer  Gryce,  to 
investigate,  and  the  story,  as  he 
tells  it,  is  this  : 

When,  some  time  after  mid- 
night, I  reached  Lafayette  Place, 
I  found  the  block  lighted  from 
end  to  end.  Groups  of  excited 
men  and  women  peered  from  the 
open  doorways,  and  mingled  their 
shadows  with  those  of  the  huge 
pillars  which  adorn  the  front  of 
this  picturesque  block  of  dwell- 
ings. 

The  house  in  which  the  crime 
had  been  committed  was  near  the 
centre  of  the  row,  and,  long  be- 
fore I  reached  it,  I  had  learned 


ano  tbe  Clock 


from  more  than  one  source  that 
the  alarm  was  first  given  to  the 
street  by  a  woman's  shriek,  and 
secondly  by  the  shouts  of  an  old 
man-servant  who  had  appeared,  in 
a  half-dressed  condition,  at  the 
window  of  Mr.  Hasbrouck's  room, 
crying  "  Murder  !  murder!  " 

But  when  I  had  crossed  the 
threshold,  I  was  astonished  at  the 
paucity  of  the  facts  to  be  gleaned 
from  the  inmates  themselves.  The 
old  servitor,  who  was  the  first  to 
talk,  had  only  this  account  of  the 
crime  to  give. 

The  family,  which  consisted  of 
Mr.  Hasbrouck,  his  wife,  and  three 
servants,  had  retired  for  the  night 
at  the  usual  hour  and  under  the 
usual  auspices.  At  eleven  o'clock 
the  lights"  were  all  extinguished, 
and  the  whole  household  asleep, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Mr. 


XLbc  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 


Hasbrouck  himself,  who,  being  a 
man  of  large  business  responsibili- 
ties, was  frequently  troubled  with 
insomnia. 

Suddenly  Mrs.  Hasbrouck  woke 
with  a  start.  Had  she  dreamed 
the  words  that  were  ringing  in  her 
ears,  or  had  they  been  actually 
uttered  in  her  hearing  ?  They 
were  short,  sharp  words,  full  of 
terror  and  menace,  and  she  had 
nearly  satisfied  herself  that -she 
had  imagined  them,  when  there 
came,  from  somewhere  near  the 
door,  a  sound  she  neither  under- 
stood nor  could  interpret,  but 
which  filled  her  with  inexplicable 
terror,  and  made  her  afraid  to 
breathe,  or  even  to  stretch  forth 
her  hand  towards  her  husband, 
whom  she  supposed  to  be  sleeping 
at  her  side.  At  length  another 
strange  sound,  which  she  was  sure 


and  tbe  Clock 


was  not  due  to  her  imagination, 
drove  her  to  make  an  attempt  to 
rouse  him,  when  she  was  horrified 
to  find  that  she  was  alone  in  the 
bed,  and  her  husband  nowhere 
within    reach. 

Filled  now  with  something  more 
than  nervous  apprehension,  she 
flung  herself  to  the  floor,  and  tried 
to  penetrate,  with  frenzied  glances, 
the  surrounding  darkness.  But 
the  blinds  and  shutters  both  hav- 
ing been  carefully  closed  by  Mr. 
Hasbrouck  before  retiring,  she 
found  this  impossible,  and  she 
was  about  to  sink  in  terror  to  the 
floor,  when  she  heard  a  low  gasp 
on  the  other  side  of  the  room, 
followed  by  the  suppressed  cry : 
"  God  !  what  have  I  done  !  " 
The  voice  was  a  strange  one, 
but  before  the  fear  aroused  by 
this   fact    could    culminate    in   a 


Gbe  2)octor,  bte  "CCUfe 


shriek  of  dismay,  she  caught  the 
sound  of  retreating  footsteps,  and, 
eagerly  listening,  she  heard  them 
descend  the  stairs  and  depart  by 
the  front  door. 

Had  she  known  what  had  oc- 
curred— had  there  been  no  doubt 
in  her  mind  as  to  what  lay  in  the 
darkness  on  the  other  side  of  the 
room — it  is  likely  that,  at  the  noise 
caused  by  the  closing  front  door, 
she  would  have  made  at  once  for 
the  balcony  that  opened  out  from 
the  window  before  which  she  was 
standing,  and  taken  one  look  at 
the  flying  figure  below.  But  her 
uncertainty  as  to  what  lay  hidden 
from  her  by  the  darkness  chained 
her  feet  to  the  floor,  and  there  is 
no  knowing  when  she  would  have 
moved,  if  a  carriage  had  not  at  that 
moment  passed  down  Astor  Place, 
bringing  with  it  a  sense  of  com- 


ano  tbe  Clock 


panionship  which  broke  the  spell 
that  held  her,  and  gave  her 
strength  to  light  the  gas,  which 
was  in  ready  reach  of  her  hand. 

As  the  sudden  blaze  illuminated 
the  room,  revealing  in  a  burst  the 
old  familiar  walls  and  well-known 
pieces  of  furniture,  she  felt  for  a 
moment  as  if  released  from  some 
heavy  nightmare  and  restored  to 
the  common  experiences  of  life. 
But  in  another  instant  her  former 
dread  returned,  and  she  found 
herself  quaking  at  the  prospect  of 
passing  around  the  foot  of  the 
bed  into  that  part  of  the  room 
which  was  as  yet  hidden  from  her 
eyes. 

But  the  desperation  which 
comes  with  great  crises  finally 
drove  her  from  her  retreat  ;  and, 
creeping  slowly  forward,  she  cast 
one  glance  at  the  floor  before  her, 


XLbc  Doctor,  bis  %Uifc 


when  she  found  her  worst  fears 
realized  by  the  sight  of  the  dead 
body  of  her  husband  lying  prone 
before  the  open  doorway,  with  a 
bullet-hole  in  his  forehead. 

Her  first  impulse  was  to  shriek, 
but,  by  a  powerful  exercise  of  will, 
she  checked  herself,  and,  ringing 
frantically  for  the  servants  who 
slept  on  the  top-floor  of  the  house, 
flew  to  the  nearest  window  and 
endeavored  to  open  it.  But  the 
shutters  had  been  bolted  so  se- 
curely by  Mr.  Hasbrouck,  in  his 
endeavor  to  shut  out  light  and 
sound,  that  by  the  time  she  had 
succeeded  in  unfastening  them,  all 
trace  of  the  flying  murderer  had 
vanished  from  the  street. 

Sick  with  grief  and  terror,  she 
stepped  back  into  the  room  just  as 
the  three  frightened  servants  de- 
scended  the  stairs.     As  they  ap- 


ano  tbe  Clock 


peared  in  the  open  doorway,  she 
pointed  at  her  husband's  inani- 
mate form,  and  then,  as  if  sud- 
denly realizing  in  its  full  force  the 
calamity  which  had  befallen  her, 
she  threw  up  her  arms,  and  sank 
forward  to  the  floor  in  a  dead 
faint. 

The  two  women  rushed  to  her 
assistance,  but  the  old  butler, 
bounding  over  the  bed,  sprang  to 
the  window,  and  shrieked  his 
alarm  to  the  street. 

In  the  interim  that  followed, 
Mrs.  Hasbrouck  was  revived,  and 
the  master's  body  laid  decently  on 
the  bed ;  but  no  pursuit  was 
made,  nor  any  inquiries  started 
likely  to  assist  me  in  establishing 
the  identity  of  the  assailant. 

Indeed,  every  one,  both  in  the 
house  and  out,  seemed  dazed  by 
the  unexpected  catastrophe,  and 


Zbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 


as  no  one  had  any  suspicions  to 
offer  as  to  the  probable  murderer, 
I  had  a  difficult  task  before  me. 

I  began,  in  the  usual  way,  by 
inspecting  the  scene  of  the  mur- 
der. I  found  nothing  in  the  room, 
or  in  the  condition  of  the  body  it- 
self, which  added  an  iota  to  the 
knowledge  already  obtained.  That 
Mr.  Hasbrouck  had  been  in  bed  ; 
that  he  had  risen  upon  hearing  a 
noise  ;  and  that  he  had  been  shot 
before  reaching  the  door,  were 
self-evident  facts.  But  there  was 
nothing  to  guide  me  further.  The 
very  simplicity  of  the  circum- 
stances caused  a  dearth  of  clues, 
which  made  the  difficulty  of  pro- 
cedure as  great  as  any  I  ever 
encountered. 

My  search  through  the  hall  and 
down  the  stairs  elicited  nothing ; 
and  an  investigation  of  the  bolts 


ano  tbe  Clock  13 

and  bars  by  which  the  house  was 
secured,  assured  me  that  the  assas- 
sin had  either  entered  by  the  front 
door,  or  had  already  been  secreted 
in  the  house  when  it  was  locked 
up  for  the  night. 

"  I  shall  have  to  trouble  Mrs. 
Hasbrouck  for  a  short  interview," 
I  hereupon  announced  to  the 
trembling  old  servitor,  who  had 
followed  me  like  a  dog  about  the 
house. 

He  made  no  demur,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  I  was  ushered  into 
the  presence  of  the  newly  made 
widow,  who  sat  quite  alone,  in  a 
large  chamber  in  the  rear.  As  I 
crossed  the  threshold  she  looked 
up,  and  I  encountered  a  good 
plain  face,  without  the  shadow  of 
guile  in  it. 

"  Madam,"  said  I,  "  I  have  not 
come  to  disturb  you.     I  will  ask 


i4         ttbe  2>octor,  bis  Wiite 

two  or  three  questions  only,  and 
then  leave  you  to  your  grief.  I 
am  told  that  some  words  came 
from  the  assassin  before  he  de- 
livered his  fatal  shot.  Did  you 
hear  these  distinctly  enough  to 
tell  me  what  they  were  ?  " 

"  I  was  sound  asleep,"  said  she, 
"  and  dreamt,  as  I  thought,  that  a 
fierce,  strange  voice  cried  some- 
where to  some  one:  'Ah!  you 
did  not  expect  me  I '  But  I  dare 
not  say  that  these  words  were 
really  uttered  to  my  husband,  for 
he  was  not  the  man  to  call  forth 
hate,  and  only  a  man  in  the  ex- 
tremity of  passion  could  address 
such  an  exclamation  in  such  a 
tone  as  rings  in  my  memory  in 
connection  with  the  fatal  shot 
which  woke  me." 

"  But  that  shot  was  not  the 
work  of  a  friend,"  I  argued.     "  If, 


anfc  tbe  Ctoch  15 

as  these  words  seem  to  prove,  the 
assassin  had  some  other  motive 
than  gain  in  his  assault,  then  your 
husband  had  an  enemy,  though 
you  never  suspected  it." 

"  Impossible !  "  was  her  steady 
reply,  uttered  in  the  most  con- 
vincing tone.  "The  man  who 
shot  him  was  a  common  burglar, 
and,  frightened  at  having  been 
betrayed  into  murder,  fled  with- 
out looking  for  booty.  I  am  sure 
I  heard  him  cry  out  in  terror  and 
remorse :  '  God !  what  have  I 
done ! ' " 

"  Was  that  before  you  left  the 
side  of  the  bed  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  I  did  not  move  from 
my  place  till  I  heard  the  front 
door  close.  I  was  paralyzed  by 
my  fear  and  dread." 

"Are  you  in  the  habit  of  trust- 
ing to  the  security  of  a  latch-lock 


i6        tbe  doctor,  bis  tfllffe 

only  in  the  fastening  of  your  front 
door  at  night?  I  am  told  that 
the  big  key  was  not  in  the  lock, 
and  that  the  bolt  at  the  bottom 
of  the  door  was  not  drawn." 

"  The  bolt  at  the  bottom  of  the 
door  is  never  drawn.  Mr.  Has- 
brouck  was  so  good  a  man  he 
never  mistrusted  any  one.  That 
is  why  the  big  lock  was  not  fas- 
tened. The  key,  not  working  well, 
he  took  it  some  days  ago  to  the  lock- 
smith, and  when  the  latter  failed 
to  return  it,  he  laughed,  and  said 
he  thought  no  one  would  ever 
think  of  meddling  with  his  front 
door." 

"  Is  there  more  than  one  night- 
key  to  your  house  ?  "  I  now  asked. 

She  shook  her  head. 

"  And  when  did  Mr.  Hasbrouck 
last  use  his  ?  " 

"  To-night,  when  he  came  home 


ano  tbe  Clock  *7 

from     prayer --meeting,"    she    an- 
swered, and  burst  into  tears. 

Her  grief  was  so  real  and  her 
loss  so  recent  that  I  hesitated  to 
afflict  her  by  further  questions. 
So  returning  to  the  scene  of  the 
tragedy,  I  stepped  out  upon  the 
balcony  which  ran  in  front.  Soft 
voices  instantly  struck  my  ears. 
The  neighbors  on  either  side  were 
grouped  in  front  of  their  own  win- 
dows, and  were  exchanging  the 
remarks  natural  under  the  circum- 
stances. I  paused,  as  in  duty 
bound,  and  listened.  But  I  heard 
nothing  worth  recording,  and 
would  have  instantly  re-entered 
the  house,  if  I  had  not  been  im- 
pressed by  the  appearance  of  a 
very  graceful  woman  who  stood 
at  my  right.  She  was  clinging  to 
her  husband,  who  was  gazing  at 
one  of  the  pillars  before  him  in  a 


18  Cbe  Doctor,  bis  THMfe 

strange,  fixed  way  •  which  aston- 
ished me  till  he  attempted  to 
move,  and  then  I  saw  that  he  was 
blind.  Instantly  I  remembered 
that  there  lived  in  this  row  a  blind 
doctor,  equally  celebrated  for  his 
skill  and  for  his  uncommon  per- 
sonal attractions,  and,  greatly  in- 
terested not  only  in  his  affliction, 
but  in  the  sympathy  evinced  for 
him  by  his  young  and  affectionate 
wife,  I  stood  still  till  I  heard  her 
say  in  the  soft  and  appealing  tones 
of  love : 

"  Come  in,  Constant ;  you  have 
heavy  duties  for  to-morrow,  and 
you  should  get  a  few  hours'  rest, 
if  possible." 

He  came  from  the  shadow  of 
the  pillar,  and  for  one  minute  I 
saw  his  face  with  the  lamplight 
shining  full  upon  it.  It  was  as 
regular  of  feature  as  a  sculptured 
Adonis,  and  it  was  as  white. 


anfc  tbe  Clocft  19 

"Sleep!"  he  repeated,  in  the 
measured  tones  of  deep  but  sup- 
pressed feeling.  "  Sleep  !  with 
murder  on  the  other  side  of  the 
wall !  "  And  he  stretched  out  his 
arms  in  a  dazed  way  that  insensi- 
bly accentuated  the  horror  I  my- 
self felt  of  the  crime  which  had  so 
lately  taken  place  in  the  room  be- 
hind me. 

She,  noting  the  movement,  took 
one  of  the  groping  hands  in  her 
own  and  drew  him  gently  towards 
her. 

"  This  way,"  she  urged ;  and, 
guiding  him  into  the  house,  she 
closed  the  window  and  drew  down 
the  shades,  making  the  street  seem 
darker  by  the  loss  of  her  exquisite 
presence. 

This  may  seem  a  digression,  but 
I  was  at  the  time  a  young  man  of 
thirty,  and  much  under  the  do- 
minion of  woman's  beauty.    I  was 


£be  Doctor,  bis  TKHtte 


therefore  slow  in  leaving  the  bal- 
cony, and  persistent  in  my  wish 
to  learn  something  of  this  remark- 
able couple  before  leaving  Mr. 
Hasbrouck's  house. 

The  story  told  me  was  very  sim- 
ple. Dr.  Zabriskie  had  not  been 
born  blind,  but  had  become  so 
after  a  grievous  illness  which  had 
stricken  him  down  soon  after  he 
received  his  diploma.  Instead  of 
succumbing  to  an  affliction  which 
would  have  daunted  most  men,  he 
expressed  his  intention  of  prac- 
tising his  profession,  and  soon  be- 
came so  successful  in  it  that  he 
found  no  difficulty  in  establishing 
himself  in  one  of  the  best-paying 
quarters  of  the  city.  Indeed,  his 
intuition  seemed  to  have  devel- 
oped in  a  remarkable  degree  after 
his  loss  of  sight,  and  he  seldom,  if 
ever,  made  a  mistake  in  diagnosis. 


ano  tbe  Clock  21 

Considering  this  fact,  and  the  per- 
sonal attractions  which  gave  him 
distinction,  it  was  no  wonder  that 
he  soon  became  a  popular  phy- 
sician whose  presence  was  a  bene- 
faction and  whose  word  a  law. 

He  had  been  engaged  to  be 
married  at  the  time  of  his  illness, 
and,  when  he  learned  what  was 
likely  to  be  its  results,  had  offered 
to  release  the  young  lady  from  all 
obligation  to  him.  But  she  would 
not  be  released,  and  they  were 
married.  This  had  taken  place 
some  five  years  previous  to  Mr. 
Hasbrouck's  death,  three  of  which 
had  been  spent  by  them  in  Lafay- 
ette Place. 

So  much  for  the  beautiful  woman 
next  door. 

There  being  absolutely  no  clue 
to  the  assailant  of  Mr.  Hasbrouck, 
I  naturally  looked  forward  to  the 


£be  doctor,  bis  mite 


inquest  for  some  evidence  upon 
which  to  work.  But  there  seemed 
to  be  no  underlying  facts  to  this 
tragedy.  The  most  careful  study 
into  the  habits  and  conduct  of  the 
deceased  brought  nothing  to  light 
save  his  general  beneficence  and 
rectitude,  nor  was  there  in  his  his- 
tory or  in  that  of  his  wife  any  secret 
or  hidden  obligation  calculated  to 
provoke  any  such  act  of  revenge 
as  murder.  Mrs.  Hasbrouck's  sur- 
mise that  the  intruder  was  simply 
a  burglar,  and  that  she  had  rather 
imagined  than  heard  the  words 
that  pointed  to  the  shooting  as  a 
deed  of  vengeance,  soon  gained 
general  credence.  But,  though 
the  police  worked  long  and  ar- 
duously in  this  new  direction, 
their  efforts  were  without  fruit, 
and  the  case  bade  fair  to  remain 
an  unsolvable  mystery. 


ano  tbe  Clock  23 

But  the  deeper  the  mystery  the 
more  persistently  does  my  mind 
cling  to  it,  and  some  five  months 
after  the  matter  had  been  dele- 
gated to  oblivion,  I  found  myself 
starting  suddenly  from  sleep,  with 
these  words  ringing  in  my  ears : 

"  Who  uttered  the  scream  that 
gave  the  first  alarm  of  Mr.  Has- 
br ouch's  violent  death  ?  " 

I  was  in  such  a  state  of  excite- 
ment that  the  perspiration  stood 
out  on  my  forehead.  Mrs.  Has- 
brouck's  story  of  the  occurrence 
returned  to  me,  and  I  remembered 
as  distinctly  as  if  she  were  then 
speaking,  that  she  had  expressly 
stated  that  she  did  not  scream 
when  confronted  by  the  sight  of 
her  husband's  dead  body.  But 
some  one  had  screamed,  and  that 
very  loudly.  Who  was  it,  then? 
One  of  the  maids,  startled  by  the 


24        Cbe  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

sudden  summons  from  below,  or 
some  one  else — some  involuntary 
witness  of  the  crime,  whose  testi- 
mony had  been  suppressed  at  the 
inquest,  by  fear  or  influence? 

The  possibility  of  having  come 
upon  a  clue  even  at  this  late  day, 
so  fired  my  ambition,  that  I  took 
the  first  opportunity  of  revisiting 
Lafayette  Place.  Choosing  such 
persons  as  I  thought  most  open  to 
my  questions,  I  learned  that  there 
were  many  who  could  testify  to 
having  heard  a  woman's  shrill 
scream  on  that  memorable  night 
just  prior  to  the  alarm  given  by 
old  Cyrus,  but  no  one  who  could 
tell  from  whose  lips  it  had  come. 
One  fact,  however,  was  immedi- 
ately settled.  It  had  not  been  the 
result  of  the  servant-women's  fears. 
Both  of  the  girls  were  positive  that 
they  had   uttered   no  sound,  nor 


and  tbe  Clock  25 

had  they  themselves  heard  any, 
till  Cyrus  rushed  to  the  window 
with  his  wild  cries.  As  the  scream, 
by  whomever  given,  was  uttered 
before  they  descended  the  stairs,  I 
was  convinced  by  these  assurances 
that  it  had  issued  from  one  of  the 
front  windows,  and  not  from  the 
rear  of  the  house,  where  their  own 
rooms  lay.  Could  it  be  that  it  had 
sprung  from  the  adjoining  dwell- 
ing,   and   that My   thoughts 

went  no  further,  but  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  visit  the  Doctor's 
house  at  once. 

It  took  some  courage  to  do  this, 
for  the  Doctor's  wife  had  attended 
the  inquest,  and  her  beauty,  seen 
in  broad  daylight,  had  worn  such 
an  aspect  of  mingled  sweetness 
and  dignity,  that  I  hesitated  to 
encounter  it  under  any  circum- 
stances likely  to  disturb  its  pure 


26         Gbe  2>octor,  bis  "HCltfe 

serenity.  But  a  clue,  once  grasped, 
cannot  be  lightly  set  aside  by  a 
true  detective,  and  it  would  have 
taken  more  than  a  woman's  frown 
to  stop  me  at  this  point.  So  I 
rang  Dr.  Zabriskie's  bell. 

I  am  seventy  years  old  now 
and  am  no  longer  daunted  by  the 
charms  of  a  beautiful  woman,  but 
I  confess  that  when  I  found  myself 
in  the  fine  reception  parlor  on  the 
first-floor,  I  experienced  no  little 
trepidation  at  the  prospect  of  the 
interview  which  awaited  me. 

But  as  soon  as  the  fine  com- 
manding form  of  the  Doctor's  wife 
crossed  the  threshold,  I  recovered 
my  senses  and  surveyed  her  with 
as  direct  a  gaze  as  my  position 
allowed.  For  her  aspect  bespoke 
a  degree  of  emotion  that  aston- 
ished me  ;  and  even  before  I  spoke 
I  perceived  her  to  be  trembling, 


anD  tbe  Glocft  27 

though  she  was  a  woman  of  no  little 
natural  dignity  and  self-possession. 

"  I  seem  to  know  your  face," 
she  said,  advancing  courteously 
towards  me,  "  but  your  name  " — 
and  here  she  glanced  at  the  card 
she  held  in  her  hand — "  is  totally 
unfamiliar  to  me." 

"  I  think  you  saw  me  some 
eighteen  months  ago,"  said  I. 
"  I  am  the  detective  who  gave 
testimony  at  the  inquest  which 
was  held  over  the  remains  of  Mr. 
Hasbrouck." 

I  had  not  meant  to  startle  her, 
but  at  this  introduction  of  myself 
I  saw  her  naturally  pale  cheek 
turn  paler,  and  her  fine  eyes,  which 
had  been  fixed  curiously  upon  me, 
gradually  sink  to  the  floor. 

"  Great  heaven  !  "  thought  I, 
"  what  is  this  I  have  stumbled 
upon  !  " 


28         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  TKflifc 

"  I  do  not  understand  what  busi- 
ness you  can  have  with  me,"  she 
presently  remarked,  with  a  show 
of  gentle  indifference  that  did  not 
in  the  least  deceive  me. 

"  I  do  not  wonder,"  I  rejoined. 
"  The  crime  which  took  place  next 
door  is  almost  forgotten  by  the 
community,  and  even  if  it  were 
not,  I  am  sure  you  would  find  it 
difficult  to  conjecture  the  nature 
of  the  question  I  have  to  put  to 
you." 

"  I  am  surprised,"  she  began, 
rising  in  her  involuntary  emotion 
and  thereby  compelling  me  to  rise 
also.  "  How  can  you  have  any 
question  to  ask  me  on  this  subject  ? 
Yet  if  you  have,"  she  continued, 
with  a  rapid  change  of  manner 
that  touched  my  heart  in  spite  of 
myself,  "  I  shall,  of  course,  do  my 
best  to  answer  you." 


anD  tbe  Clock  29 

There  are  women  whose  sweet- 
est tones  and  most  charming 
smiles  only  serve  to  awaken  dis- 
trust in  men  of  my  calling ;  but  Mrs. 
Zabriskie  was  not  of  this  num- 
ber. Her  face  was  beautiful,  but 
it  was  also  candid  in  its  expression, 
and  beneath  the  agitation  which 
palpably  disturbed  her,  I  was  sure 
there  lurked  nothing  either  wicked 
or  false.  Yet  I  held  fast  by  the 
clue  which  I  had  grasped,  as  it 
were,  in  the  dark,  and  without 
knowing  whither  I  was  tending, 
much  less  whither  I  was  leading 
her,  I  proceeded  to  say : 

"  The  question  which  I  presume 
to  put  toyou  asthe  next-door  neigh- 
bor of  Mr.  Hasbrouck,  is  this: 
Who  was  the  woman  who  screamed 
out  so  loudly  that  the  whole  neigh- 
borhood heard  her  on  the  night  of 
that  gentleman's  assassination  ?  " 


3o         Sbe  2)octor,  bis  "WHtfc 

The  gasp  she  gave  answered  my 
question  in  a  way  she  little  real- 
ized, and,  struck  as  I  was  by  the 
impalpable  links  that  had  led  me 
to  the  threshold  of  this  hitherto 
unsolvable  mystery,  I  was  about 
to  press  my  advantage  and  ask 
another  question,  when  she 
quickly  started  forward  and  laid 
her  hand  on  my  lips. 

Astonished,  I  looked  at  her  in- 
quiringly, but  her  head  was  turned 
aside,  and  her  eyes,  fixed  upon  the 
door,  showed  the  greatest  anxiety. 
Instantly  I  realized  what  she 
feared.  Her  husband  was  enter- 
ing the  house,  and  she  dreaded 
lest  his  ears  should  catch  a  word 
of  our  conversation. 

Not  knowing  what  was  in  her 
mind,  and  unable  to  realize  the  im- 
portance of  the  moment  to  her,  I 
yet  listened  to  the  advance  of  her 


ano  tbe  Clock  31 

blind  husband  with  an  almost 
painful  interest.  Would  he  enter 
the  room  where  we  were,  or  would 
he  pass  immediately  to  his  office 
in  the  rear  ?  She  seemed  to  won- 
der too,  and  almost  held  her  breath 
as  he  neared  the  door,  paused,  and 
stood  in  the  open  doorway,  with 
his  ear  turned  towards  us. 

As  for  myself,  I  remained  per- 
fectly still,  gazing  at  his  face  in 
mingled  surprise  and  apprehen- 
sion. For  besides  its  beauty, 
which  was  of  a  marked  order,  as  I 
have  already  observed,  it  had  a 
touching  expression  which  irre- 
sistibly aroused  both  pity  and 
interest  in  the  spectator.  This 
may  have  been  the  result  of  his 
affliction,  or  it  may  have  sprung 
from  some  deeper  cause ;  but, 
whatever  its  source,  this  look  in 
his  face  produced  a  strong  impres- 


32         Gbe  2>octor,  bis  "GHUfe 

sion  upon  me  and  interested  me 
at  once  in  his  personality.  Would 
he  enter  ?  Or  would  he  pass  on  ? 
Her  look  of  silent  appeal  showed 
me  in  which  direction  her  wishes 
lay,  but  while  I  answered  her 
glance  by  complete  silence,  I  was 
conscious  in  some  indistinct  way 
that  the  business  I  had  undertaken 
would  be  better  furthered  by  his 
entrance. 

The  blind  have  been  often  said 
to  possess  a  sixth  sense  in  place  of 
the  one  they  have  lost.  Though 
I  am  sure  we  made  no  noise,  I 
soon  perceived  that  he  was  aware 
of  our  presence.  Stepping  hastily 
forward  he  said,  in  the  high  and 
vibrating  tone  of  restrained  pas- 
sion : 

"  Helen,  are  you  here  ?  " 
For  a  moment   I  thought  she 
did   not    mean    to    answer,   but 


ano  tbe  Clock  33 

knowing  doubtless  from  experi- 
ence the  impossibility  of  deceiving 
him,  she  answered  with  a  cheerful 
assent,  dropping  her  hand  as  she 
did  so  from  before  my  lips. 

He  heard  the  slight  rustle  which 
accompanied  the  movement,  and 
a  look  I  found  it  hard  to  compre- 
hend flashed  over  his  features, 
altering  his  expression  so  com- 
pletely that  he  seemed  another 
man. 

"You  have  some  one  with  you," 
he  declared,  advancing  another  step 
but  with  none  of  the  uncertainty 
which  usually  accompanies  the 
movements  of  the  blind.  "  Some 
dear  friend,"  he  went  on,  with  an 
almost  sarcastic  emphasis  and  a 
forced  smile  that  had  little  of 
gaiety  in  it. 

The  agitated  and  distressed 
blush  which  answered   him  could 


34         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

have  but  one  interpretation.  He 
suspected  that  her  hand  had  been 
clasped  in  mine,  and  she  perceived 
his  thought  and  knew  that  I  per- 
ceived  it  also. 

Drawing  herself  up,  she  moved 
towards  him,  saying  in  a  sweet 
womanly  tone  that  to  me  spoke 
volumes  : 

"  It  is  no  friend,  Constant,  not 
even  an  acquaintance.  The  per- 
son whom  I  now  present  to  you  is 
an  agent  from  the  police.  He  is 
here  upon  a  trivial  errand  which 
will  be  soon  finished,  when  I  will 
join  you  in  your  office." 

I  knew  she  was  but  taking  a 
choice  between  two  evils.  That 
she  would  have  saved  her  husband 
the  knowledge  of  a  detective's 
presence  in  the  house,  if  her  self- 
respect  would  have  allowed  it,  but 
neither  she  nor  I  anticipated  the 


an£>  tbe  Clocft  35 

effect  which  this  presentation  pro- 
duced upon  him. 

"A  police  officer,"  he  repeated, 
staring  with  his  sightless  eyes,  as 
if,  in  his  eagerness  to  see,  he  half 
hoped  his  lost  sense  would  return. 
"  He  can  have  no  trivial  errand 
here  ;  he  has  been  sent  by  God 
Himself  to " 

"  Let  me  speak  for  you,"  hastily 
interposed  his  wife,  springing  to 
his  side  and  clasping  his  arm  with 
a  fervor  that  was  equally  expres- 
sive of  appeal  and  command. 
Then  turning  to  me,  she  explained: 
"  Since  Mr.  Hasbrouck's  unac- 
countable death,  my  husband  has 
been  laboring  under  an  hallucina- 
tion which  I  have  only  to  mention 
for  you  to  recognize  its  perfect 
absurdity.  He  thinks — oh  !  do  not 
look  like  that,  Constant  ;  you 
know  it  is  an  hallucination  which 


36         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

must  vanish  the  moment  we  drag 
it  into  broad  daylight — that  he — 
he,  the  best  man  in  all  the  world, 
was  himself  the  assailant  of  Mr. 
Hasbrouck." 

Good  God ! 

"  I  say  nothing  of  the  impossi- 
bility of  this  being  so,"  she  went 
on  in  a  fever  of  expostulation. 
"  He  is  blind,  and  could  not  have 
delivered  such  a  shot  even  if  he 
had  desired  to  ;  besides,  he  had 
no  weapon.  But  the  inconsistency 
of  the  thing  speaks  for  itself,  and 
should  assure  him  that  his  mind 
is  unbalanced  and  that  he  is  merely 
suffering  from  a  shock  that  was 
greater  than  we  realized.  He  is  a 
physician  and  has  had  many  such 
instances  in  his  own  practice. 
Why,  he  was  very  much  attached 
to  Mr.  Hasbrouck !  They  were 
the  best  of  friends,  and  though  he 


an&  tbe  Clocft  37 

insists  that  he  killed  him,  he  can- 
not give  any  reason  for  the  deed." 

At  these  words  the  Doctor's  face 
grew  stern,  and  he  spoke  like  an 
automaton  repeating  some  fearful 
lesson. 

"  I  killed  him.  I  went  to  his 
room  and  deliberately  shot  him. 
I  had  nothing  against  him,  and 
my  remorse  is  extreme.  Arrest 
me,  and  let  me  pay  the  penalty  of 
my  crime.  It  is  the  only  way  in 
which  I  can  obtain  peace." 

Shocked  beyond  all  power  of 
self-control  by  this  repetition  of 
what  she  evidently  considered  the 
unhappy  ravings  of  a  madman,  she 
let  go  his  arm  and  turned  upon 
me  in  frenzy. 

"  Convince  him  !  "  she  cried. 
"  Convince  him  by  your  questions 
that  he  never  could  have  done  this 
fearful  thing." 


38         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

I  was  laboring  under  great  ex- 
citement myself,  for  I  felt  my 
youth  against  me  in  a  matter  of 
such  tragic  consequence.  Be- 
sides, I  agreed  with  her  that  he 
was  in  a  distempered  state  of 
mind,  and  I  hardly  knew  how  to 
deal  with  one  so  fixed  in  his  hal- 
lucination and  with  so  much  intel- 
ligence to  support  it.  But  the 
emergency  was  great,  for  he  was 
holding  out  his  wrists  in  the  evi- 
dent expectation  of  my  taking  him 
into  instant  custody  ;  and  the  sight 
was  killing  his  wife,  who  had  sunk 
on  the  floor  between  us,  in  terror 
and  anguish. 

"  You  say  you  killed  Mr.  Has- 
brouck,"  I  began.  "  Where  did 
you  get  your  pistol,  and  what  did 
you  do  with  it  after  you  left  his 
house?" 

"  My   husband   had   no   pistol ; 


ano  tbe  Clock  39 

never  had  any  pistol,"  put  in  Mrs. 
Zabriskie,  with  vehement  asser- 
tion. "  If  I  had  seen  him  with 
such  a  weapon " 

"  I  threw  it  away.  When  I 
left  the  house,  I  cast  it  as  far  from 
me  as  possible,  for  I  was  frightened 
at  what  I  had  done,  horribly 
frightened." 

"  No  pistol  was  ever  found,"  I 
answered,  with  a  smile,  forgetting 
for  the  moment  that  he  could  not 
see.  "  If  such  an  instrument  had 
been  found  in  the  street  after  a 
murder  of  such  consequence  it  cer- 
tainly would  have  been  brought  to 
the  police." 

"  You  forget  that  a  good  pistol 
is  valuable  property,"  he  went  on 
stolidly.  "  Some  one  came  along 
before  the  general  alarm  was 
given  ;  and  seeing  such  a  treasure 
lying  on  the  sidewalk,  picked  it  up 


4o         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

and  carried  it  off.  Not  being  an 
honest  man,  he  preferred  to  keep 
it  to  drawing  the  attention  of  the 
police  upon  himself." 

"  Hum,  perhaps,"  said  I ;  "but 
where  did  you  get  it.  Surely  you 
can  tell  where  you  procured  such 
a  weapon,  if,  as  your  wife  inti- 
mates, you  did  not  own  one." 

"  I  bought  it  that  self-same  night 
of  a  friend ;  a  friend  whom  I  will 
not    name,    since   he    resides    no 

longer  in   this   country.      I " 

He  paused ;  intense  passion  was 
in  his  face  ;  he  turned  towards  his 
wife,  and  a  low  cry  escaped  him, 
which  made  her  look  up  in  fear. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  go  into  any 
particulars,"  said  he.  "  God  for- 
sook me  and  I  committed  a  hor- 
rible crime.  When  I  am  punished, 
perhaps  peace  will  return  to  me 
and   happiness   to   her.     I  would 


anfc  tbe  Clock  41 

not  wish  her  to  suffer  too  long  or 
too  bitterly  for  my  sin." 

"  Constant !  "  What  love  was 
in  the  cry  !  and  what  despair  !  It 
seemed  to  move  him  and  turn  his 
thoughts  for  a  moment  into  a 
different  channel. 

"  Poor  child  !  "  he  murmured, 
stretching  out  his  hands  by  an  ir- 
resistible impulse  towards  her. 
But  the  change  was  but  momen- 
tary, and  he  was  soon  again  the 
stern  and  determined  self-accuser. 
"  Are  you  going  to  take  me  before 
a  magistrate  ?  "  he  asked.  "If  so, 
I  have  a  few  duties  to  perform 
which  you  are  welcome  to  wit- 
ness." 

"  I  have  no  warrant,"  I  said  ; 
"  besides,  I  am  scarcely  the  one  to 
take  such  a  responsibility  upon 
myself.  If,  however,  you  persist 
in   your   declaration,  I  will   com- 


42         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

municate  with  my  superiors,  who 
will  take  such  action  as  they  think 
best." 

"That  will  be  still  more  satis- 
factory to  me,"  said  he ;  "  for 
though  I  have  many  times  con- 
templated giving  myself  up  to  the 
authorities,  I  have  still  much  to 
do  before  I  can  leave  my  home 
and  practice  without  injury  to 
others.  Good-day  ;  when  you 
want  me,  you  will  find  me  here." 

He  was  gone,  and  the  poor 
young  wife  was  left  crouching  on 
the  floor  alone.  Pitying  her  shame 
and  terror,  I  ventured  to  remark 
that  it  was  not  an  uncommon 
thing  for  a  man  to  confess  to  a 
crime  he  had  never  committed, 
and  assured  her  that  the  matter 
would  be  inquired  into  very  care- 
fully before  any  attempt  was  made 
upon  his  liberty. 


ano  tbe  Clock  43 

She  thanked  me,  and,  slowly 
rising,  tried  to  regain  her  equa- 
nimity ;  but  the  manner  as  well  as 
the  matter  of  her  husband's  self- 
condemnation  was  too  overwhelm- 
ing in  its  nature  for  her  to  recover 
readily  from  her  emotions. 

"  I  have  long  dreaded  this,"  she 
acknowledged.  "  For  months  I 
have  foreseen  that  he  would  make 
some  rash  communication  or  in- 
sane avowal.  If  I  had  dared,  I 
would  have  consulted  some  physi- 
cian about  this  hallucination  of 
his ;  but  he  was  so  sane  on  other 
points  that  I  hesitated  to  give  my 
dreadful  secret  to  the  world.  I 
kept  hoping  that  time  and  his 
daily  pursuits  would  have  their 
effect  and  restore  him  to  himself. 
But  his  illusion  grows,  and  now  I 
fear  that  nothing  will  ever  con- 
vince him  that  he  did  not  commit 


44         tlbe  Doctor,  bis  WLxte 

the  deed  of  which  he  accuses  him- 
self. If  he  were  not  blind  I  would 
have  more  hope,  but  the  blind 
have  so  much  time  for  brooding." 

"  I  think  he  had  better  be  in- 
dulged in  his  fancies  for  the  pres- 
ent," I  ventured.  "  If  he  is  laboring 
under  an  illusion  it  might  be  dan- 
gerous to  cross  him." 

"  If?  "  she  echoed  in  an  inde- 
scribable tone  of  amazement  and 
dread.  "  Can  you  for  a  moment 
harbor  the  idea  that  he  has  spoken 
the  truth?" 

"  Madam,"  I  returned,  with 
something  of  the  cynicism  of  my 
later  years,  "  what  caused  you  to 
give  such  an  unearthly  scream 
just  before  this  murder  was  made 
known  to  the  neighborhood  ?  " 

She  stared,  paled,  and  finally 
began  to  tremble,  not,  as  I  now 
believe,  at  the  insinuation  latent 


ano  tbe  Clock  45 

in  my  words,  but  at  the  doubts 
which  my  question  aroused  in  her 
own  breast. 

"  Did  I  ?  "  she  asked  ;  then  with 
a  great  burst  of  candor,  which 
seemed  inseparable  from  her  na- 
ture, she  continued  :  "  Why  do  I 
try  to  mislead  you  or  deceive 
myself  ?  I  did  give  a  shriek  just 
before  the  alarm  was  raised  next 
door ;  but  it  was  not  from  any 
knowledge  I  had  of  a  crime  having 
been  committed,  but  because  I 
unexpectedly  saw  before  me  my 
husband  whom  I  supposed  to  be 
on  his  way  to  Poughkeepsie.  He 
was  looking  very  pale  and  strange, 
and  for  a  moment  I  thought  I  was 
beholding  his  ghost.  But  he  soon 
explained  his  appearance  by  saying 
that  he  had  fallen  from  the  train 
and  had  been  only  saved  by  a 
miracle  from  being  dismembered; 


46        Gbe  Doctor,  bis  mite 

and  I  was  just  bemoaning  his  mis- 
hap and  trying  to  calm  him  and 
myself,  when  that  terrible  shout 
was  heard  next  door  of  '  Murder! 
murder!'  Coming  so  soon  after 
the  shock  he  had  himself  experi- 
enced, it  quite  unnerved  him,  and 
I  think  we  can  date  his  mental 
disturbance  from  that  moment. 
For  he  began  almost  immediately 
to  take  a  morbid  interest  in  the 
affair  next  door,  though  it  was 
weeks,  if  not  months,  before  he  let 
a  word  fall  of  the  nature  of  those 
you  have  just  heard.  Indeed  it 
was  not  till  I  repeated  to  him 
some  of  the  expressions  he  was 
continually  letting  fall  in  his  sleep, 
that  he  commenced  to  accuse 
himself  of  crime  and  talk  of  retri- 
bution." 

"  You    say  that   your  husband 
frightened  you  on  that  night  by 


ano  tbe  Clock  47 

appearing  suddenly  at  the  door 
when  you  thought  him  on  his  way 
to  Poughkeepsie.  Is  Dr.  Zabriskie 
in  the  habit  of  thus  going  and  com- 
ing alone  at  an  hour  so  late  as  this 
must  have  been?  " 

"You  forget  that  to  the  blind, 
night  is  less  full  of  perils  than  the 
day.  Often  and  often  has  my  hus- 
band found  his  way  to  his  patients' 
houses  alone  after  midnight ;  but 
on  this  especial  evening  he  had 
Harry  with  him.  Harry  was  his 
driver,  and  always  accompanied 
him  when  he  went  any  distance." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  I,  "  all  we 
have  to  do  is  to  summon  Harry 
and  hear  what  he  has  to  say  con- 
cerning this  affair.  He  surely  will 
know  whether  or  not  his  master 
went  into  the  house  next  door." 

"  Harry  has  left  us,"  she  said. 
"  Dr.  Zabriskie  has  another  driver 


43         Gbe  2>octor,  bis  WLite 

now.  Besides — (I  have  nothing  to 
conceal  from  you) — Harry  was  not 
with  him  when  he  returned  to  the 
house  that  evening,  or  the  Doc- 
tor would  not  have  been  without 
his  portmanteau  till  the  next  day. 
Something — I  have  never  known 
what — caused  them  to  separate, 
and  that  is  why  I  have  no  answer  to 
give  the  Doctor  when  he  accuses 
himself  of  committing  a  deed  on 
that  night  which  is  wholly  out  of 
keeping  with  every  other  act  of 
his  life." 

"And  have  you  never  questioned 
Harry  why  they  separated  and 
why  he  allowed  his  master  to  come 
home  alone  after  the  shock  he  had 
received  at  the  station?  " 

"  I  did  not  know  there  was  any 
reason  for  doing  so  till  long  after 
he  left  us." 

"  And  when  did  he  leave  ?  " 


ano  tbe  Clock  49 

"  That  I  do  not  remember.  A 
few  weeks  or  possibly  a  few  days 
after  that  dreadful  night." 

"And  where  is  he  now?" 

"  Ah,  that  I  have  not  the  least 
means  of  knowing.  But,"  she 
suddenly  cried,  "what  do  you 
want  of  Harry  ?  If  he  did  not 
follow  Dr.  Zabriskie  to  his  own 
door,  he  could  tell  us  nothing  that 
would  convince  my  husband  that 
he  is  laboring  under  an  illusion." 

"  But  he  might  tell  us  something 
which  would  convince  us  that  Dr. 
Zabriskie  was  not  himself  after  the 
accident,  that  he " 

"  Hush  !  "  came  from  her  lips  in 
imperious  tones.  "  I  will  not  be- 
lieve that  he  shot  Mr.  Hasbrouck 
even  if  you  prove  him  to  have  been 
insane  at  the  time.  How  could 
he?      My   husband    is  blind.     It 

would  take  a  man   of   very  keen 

4 


50         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

sight  to  force  himself  into  a  house 
that  was  closed  for  the  night,  and 
kill  a  man  in  the  dark  at  one  shot." 

"  Rather,"  cried  a  voice  from  the 
doorway,  "  it  is  only  a  blind  man 
who  could  do  this.  Those  who 
trust  to  eyesight  must  be  able  to 
catch  some  glimpse  of  the  mark 
they  aim  at,  and  this  room,  as  I 
have  been  told,  was  without  a 
glimmer  of  light.  But  the  blind 
trust  to  sound,  and  as  Mr.  Has- 
brouck  spoke " 

"  Oh  !  "  burst  from  the  horrified 
wife,  "  is  there  no  one  to  stop  him 
when  he  speaks  like  that  ?  " 


ano  tbe  Clock  51 


II. 

WH  EN  I  related  to  my  superi- 
ors the  details  of  the  fore- 
going interview,  two  of  them 
coincided  with  the  wife  in  thinking 
that  Dr.  Zabriskie  was  in  an  irre- 
sponsible condition  of  mind  which 
made  any  statement  of  his  ques- 
tionable. But  the  third  seemed 
disposed  to  argue  the  matter,  and, 
casting  me  an  inquiring  look, 
seemed  to  ask  what  my  opinion 
was  on  the  subject.  Answering 
him  as  if  he  had  spoken,  I  gave 
my  conclusion  as  follows :  That 
whether  insane  or  not,  Dr.  Zabris- 
kie had  fired  the  shot  which  ter- 
minated Mr.  Hasbrouck's  life. 


52         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  TlCUfe 

It  was  the  Inspector's  own  idea, 
but  it  was  not  shared  in  by  the 
others,  one  of  whom  had  known 
the  Doctor  for  years.  Accordingly 
they  compromised  by  postponing 
all  opinion  till  they  had  themselves 
interrogated  the  Doctor,  and  I  was 
detailed  to  bring  him  before  them 
the  next  afternoon. 

He  came  without  reluctance,  his 
wife  accompanying  him.  In  the 
short  time  which  elapsed  between 
their  leaving  Lafayette  Place  and 
entering  Headquarters,  I  em- 
braced the  opportunity  of  observ- 
ing them,  and  I  found  the  study 
equally  exciting  and  interesting. 
His  face  was  calm  but  hopeless, 
and  his  eye,  which  should  have 
shown  a  wild  glimmer  if  there  was 
truth  in  his  wife's  hypothesis,  was 
dark  and  unfathomable,  but  nei- 
ther frenzied  nor  uncertain.     He 


an&  tbe  Clock  53 

spake  but  once  and  listened  to 
nothing,  though  now  and  then  his 
wife  moved  as  if  to  attract  his 
attention,  and  once  even  stole  her 
hand  toward  his,  in  the  tender 
hope  that  he  would  feel  its  ap- 
proach and  accept  her  sympathy. 
But  he  was  deaf  as  well  as  blind  ; 
and  sat  wrapped  up  in  thoughts 
which  she,  I  know,  would  have 
given  worlds  to  penetrate. 

Her  countenance  was  not  with- 
out its  mystery  also.  She  showed 
in  every  lineament  passionate  con- 
cern and  misery,  and  a  deep  ten- 
derness from  which  the  element  of 
fear  was  not  absent.  But  she,  as 
well  as  he,  betrayed  that  some 
misunderstanding,  deeper  than  any 
I  had  previously  suspected,  drew 
its  intangible  veil  between  them 
and  made  the  near  proximity  in 
which  they  sat,  at  once  a  heart- 


54        Gbe  ©octor,  bis  Wife 

piercing  delight  and  an  unspeak- 
able pain.  What  was  this  misun- 
derstanding ?  and  what  was  the 
character  of  the  fear  that  modified 
her  every  look  of  love  in  his  di- 
rection? Her  perfect  indifference 
to  my  presence  proved  that  it  was 
not  connected  with  the  position 
in  which  he  had  put  himself  tow- 
ards the  police  by  his  voluntary 
confession  of  crime,  nor  could  I 
thus  interpret  the  expression  of 
frantic  question  which  now  and 
then  contracted  her  features,  as 
she  raised  her  eyes  towards  his 
sightless  orbs,  and  strove  to  read, 
in  his  firm-set  lips,  the  meaning  of 
those  assertions  she  could  only 
ascribe  to  a  loss  of  reason. 

The  stopping  of  the  carriage 
seemed  to  awaken  both  from 
thoughts  that  separated  rather 
than  united  them.     He  turned  his 


an&  tbe  Clocfe  55 

face  in  her  direction,  and  she, 
stretching  forth  her  hand,  pre- 
pared to  lead  him  from  the  car- 
riage, without  any  of  that  display 
of  timidity  which  had  been  pre- 
viously evident  in  her  manner. 

As  his  guide  she  seemed  to  fear 
nothing  ;  as  his  lover,  everything. 

"  There  is  another  and  a  deeper 
tragedy  underlying  the  outward 
and  obvious  one,"  was  my  inward 
conclusion,  as  I  followed  them  into 
the  presence  of  the  gentlemen 
awaiting  them. 

Dr.  Zabriskie's  appearance  was 
a  shock  to  those  who  knew  him  ; 
so  was  his  manner,  which  was  calm, 
straightforward,  and  quietly  de- 
termined. 

"  I  shot  Mr.  Hasbrouck,"  was  his 
steady  affirmation,  given  without 
any  show  of  frenzy  or  desperation. 


56        Gbe  Doctor,  bis  Mtfe 

"  If  you  ask  me  why  I  did  it,  I 
cannot  answer;  if  you  ask  me  how, 
I  am  ready  to  state  all  that  I  know 
concerning  the  matter." 

"  But,  Dr.  Zabriskie,"  interposed 
his  friend,  "  the  why  is  the  most 
important  thing  for  us  to  consider 
just  now.  If  you  really  desire  to 
convince  us  that  you  committed 
the  dreadful  crime  of  killing  a  to- 
tally inoffensive  man,  you  should 
give  us  some  reason  for  an  act  so 
opposed  to  all  your  instincts  and 
general  conduct." 

But  the  Doctor  continued  un- 
moved : 

"  I  had  no  reason  for  murdering 
Mr.  Hasbrouck.  A  hundred  ques- 
tions can  elicit  no  other  reply ;  you 
had  better  keep  to  the  how." 

A  deep-drawn  breath  from  the 
wife  answered  the  looks  of  the 
three  gentlemen  to  whom  this  sug- 


anfc  tbe  Clock  57 

gestion  was  offered.  "  You  see," 
that  breath  seemed  to  protest, 
"  that  he  is  not  in  his  right  mind." 

I  began  to  waver  in  my  own 
opinion,  and  yet  the  intuition 
which  has  served  me  in  cases  as 
seemingly  impenetrable  as  this, 
bade  me  beware  of  following  the 
general  judgment. 

"  Ask  him  to  inform  you  how  he 
got  into  the  house,"  I  whispered 
to  Inspector  D ,  who  sat  near- 
est me. 

Immediately  the  Inspector  put 
the  question  I  had  suggested  : 

"  By  what  means  did  you  enter 
Mr.  Hasbrouck's  house  at  so  late 
an  hour  as  this  murder  occurred?" 

The  blind  doctor's  head  fell 
forward  on  his  breast,  and  he  hesi- 
tated for  the  first  and  only  time. 

"  You  will  not  believe  me,"  said 
he;  "  but  the  door  was  ajar  when 


58        XLbc  Doctor,  bfe  TKlUfe 

I  came  to  it.  Such  things  make 
crime  easy ;  it  is  the  only  excuse 
I  have  to  offer  for  this  dreadful 
deed." 

The  front  door  of  a  respectable 
citizen's  house  ajar  at  half-past 
eleven  at  night.  It  was  a  state- 
ment that  fixed  in  all  minds  the 
conviction  of  the  speaker's  irre- 
sponsibility. Mrs.  Zabriskie's  brow 
cleared,  and  her  beauty  became 
for  a  moment  dazzling  as  she  held 
out  her  hands  in  irrepressible  relief 
towards  those  who  were  interrogat- 
ing her  husband.  I  alone  kept  my 
impassibility.  A  possible  explana- 
tion of  this  crime  had  flashed  like 
lightning  across  my  mind  ;  an  ex- 
planation from  which  I  inwardly 
recoiled,  even  while  I  was  forced 
to  consider  it. 

"  Dr.  Zabriskie,"  remarked  the 
Inspector  who  was  most  friendly 


ano  tbe  Clock  59 

to  him,  "  such  old  servants  as  those 
kept  by  Mr.  Hasbrouck  do  not 
leave  the  front  door  ajar  at  twelve 
o'clock  at  night." 

"  Yet  ajar  it  was,"  repeated  the 
blind  doctor,  with  quiet  emphasis; 
"and  finding  it  so,  I  went  in. 
When  I  came  out  again,  I  closed 
it.  Do  you  wish  me  to  swear  to 
what  I  say  ?     If  so,  I  am  ready." 

What  could  we  reply  ?  To  see 
this  splendid-looking  man,halloWed 
by  an  affliction  so  great  that  in  it- 
self it  called  forth  the  compassion 
of  the  most  indifferent,  accusing 
himself  of  a  cold-blooded  crime,  in 
tones  that  sounded  dispassionate 
because  of  the  will  that  forced 
their  utterance,  was  too  painful  in 
itself  for  us  to  indulge  in  any  un- 
necessary words.  Compassion  took 
the  place  of  curiosity,  and  each 
and  all  of  us  turned  involuntary 


60         ftbe  Doctor,  bis  TKflife 

looks  of  pity  upon  the  young  wife 
pressing  so  eagerly  to  his  side. 

"  For  a  blind  man,"  ventured 
one,  "  the  assault  was  both  deft 
and  certain.  Are  you  accustomed 
to  Mr.  Hasbrouck's  house,  that 
you  found  your  way  with  so  little 
difficulty  to  his  bedroom  ?  " 

"  I  am  accustomed "  he  be- 
gan. 

But  here  his  wife  broke  in  with 
irrepressible  passion  : 

"  He  is  not  accustomed  to  that 
house.  He  has  never  been  beyond 
the  first-floor.  Why,  why  do  you 
question  him  ?  Do  you  not 
see 

His  hand  was  on  her  lips. 

"  Hush!  "he  commanded.  "You 
know  my  skill  in  moving  about  a 
house ;  how  I  sometimes  deceive 
those  who  do  not  know  me  into 
believing  that   I  can  see,  by  the 


ano  tbe  Clock  61 

readiness  with  which  I  avoid  ob- 
stacles and  find  my  way  even  in 
strange  and  untried  scenes.  Do 
not  try  to  make  them  think  I  am 
not  in  my  right  mind,  or  you  will 
drive  me  into  the  very  condition 
you  deprecate." 

His  face,  rigid,  cold,  and  set, 
looked  like  that  of  a  mask.  Hers, 
drawn  with  horror  and  filled  with 
question  that  was  fast  taking  the 
form  of  doubt,  bespoke  an  awful 
tragedy  from  which  more  that  one 
of  us  recoiled. 

"  Can  you  shoot  a  man  dead 
without  seeing  him  ? "  asked  the 
Superintendent,  with  painful  ef- 
fort. 

"Give  me  a  pistol  and  I  will 
show  you,"  was  the  quick  reply, 

A  low  cry  came  from  the  wife. 
In  a  drawer  near  to  every  one  of 
us  there  lay  a  pistol,  but  no  one 


62         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

moved  to  take  it  out.  There  was 
a  look  in  the  Doctor's  eye  which 
made  us  fear  to  trust  him  with  a 
pistol  just  then. 

"  We  will  accept  your  assurance 
that  you  possess  a  skill  beyond  that 
of  most  men,"  returned  the  Su- 
perintendent. And  beckoning  me 
forward,  he  whispered  :  "  This  is  a 
case  for  the  doctors  and  not  for 
the  police.  Remove  him  quietly, 
and  notify  Dr.  Southyard  of  what 

say. 

But  Dr.  Zabriskie,  who  seemed 
to  have  an  almost  supernatural 
acuteness  of  hearing,  gave  a  vio- 
lent start  at  this  and  spoke  up  for 
the  first  time  with  real  passion  in 
his  voice : 

"  No,  no,  I  pray  you.  I  can 
bear  anything  but  that.  Remem- 
ber, gentlemen,  that  I  am  blind  ; 
that  I  cannot  see  who  is  about  me ; 


anO  tbe  Clocfe  63 

that  my  life  would  be  a  torture  if 
I  felt  myself  surrounded  by  spies 
watching  to  catch  some  evidence 
of  madness  in  me.  Rather  convic- 
tion at  once,  death,  dishonor,  and 
obloquy.  These  I  have  incurred. 
These  I  have  brought  upon  myself 
by  crime,  but  not  this  worse  fate 
— oh  !  not  this  worse  fate." 

His  passion  was  so  intense  and 
yet  so  confined  within  the  bounds 
of  decorum,  that  we  felt  strangely 
impressed  by  it.  Only  the  wife 
stood  transfixed,  with  the  dread 
growing  in  her  heart,  till  her  white, 
waxen  visage  seemed  even  more 
terrible  to  contemplate  than  his 
passion-distorted  one. 

"  It  is  not  strange  that  my  wife 
thinks  me  demented,"  the  Doctor 
continued,  as  if  afraid  of  the  si- 
lence that  answered  him.  "  But 
it  is  your  business  to  discriminate, 


64         Cbe  2>octor,  bis  Tllflife 

and  you  should  know  a  sane  man 
when  you  see  him." 

Inspector  D no  longer  hesi- 
tated. 

"  Very  well,"  said  he,  "  give  us 
the  least  proof  that  your  assertions 
are  true,  and  we  will  lay  your  case 
before  the  prosecuting  attorney." 

"  Proof  ?  Is  not  a  man's 
word " 

"  No  man's  confession  is  worth 
much  without  some  evidence  to 
support  it.  In  your  case  there  is 
none.  You  cannot  even  produce 
the  pistol  with  which  you  assert 
yourself  to  have  committed  the 
deed." 

"  True,  true.  I  was  frightened 
by  what  I  had  done,  and  the  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation  led  me 
to  rid  myself  of  the  weapon  in  any 
way  I  could.  But  some  one  found 
this  pistol ;  some  one  picked  it  up 


ano  tbe  Clock  65 

from  the  sidewalk  of  Lafayette 
Place  on  that  fatal  night.  Adver- 
tise for  it.  Offer  a  reward.  I 
will  give  you  the  money."  Sud- 
denly he  appeared  to  realize  how 
all  this  sounded.  "Alas!"  cried 
he,  "  I  know  the  story  seems  im- 
probable ;  all  I  say  seems  improb- 
able ;  but  it  is  not  the  probable 
things  that  happen  in  this  life,  but 
the  improbable,  as  you  should 
know,  who  every  day  dig  deep 
into  the  heart  of  human  affairs." 

Were  these  the  ravings  of  in- 
sanity ?  I  began  to  understand 
the  wife's  terror. 

"  I  bought  the  pistol,"  he  went 
on,  "  of — alas  !  I  cannot  tell  you 
his  name.  Everything  is  against 
me.  I  cannot  adduce  one  proof ; 
yet  she,  even  she,  is  beginning  to 
fear  that  my  story  is  true.  I  know 
it  by  her  silence,  a  silence  that 


66         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  'OUlife 

yawns  between  us  like  a  deep  and 
unfathomable  gulf." 

But  at  these  words  her  voice 
rang  out  with  passionate  vehe- 
mence. 

"  No,  no,  it  is  false !  I  will 
never  believe  that  your  hands 
have  been  plunged  in  blood.  You 
are  my  own  pure-hearted  Constant, 
cold,  perhaps,  and  stern,  but  with 
no  guilt  upon  your  conscience,  save 
in  your  own  wild  imagination." 

"  Helen,  you  are  no  friend  to 
me,"  he  declared,  pushing  her 
gently  aside.  "  Believe  me  inno- 
cent, but  say  nothing  to  lead  these 
others  to  doubt  my  word." 

And  she  said  no  more,  but  her 
looks  spoke  volumes. 

The  result  was  that  he  was  not 
detained,  though  he  prayed  for 
instant  commitment.  He  seemed 
to  dread  his  own  home,  and  the 


ano  tbe  Clock  67 

surveillance  to  which  he  instinc- 
tively knew  he  would  henceforth 
be  subjected.  To  see  him  shrink 
from  his  wife's  hand  as  she  strove 
to  lead  him  from  the  room  was 
sufficiently  painful  ;  but  the  feel- 
ing thus  aroused  was  nothing  to 
that  with  which  we  observed  the 
keen  and  agonized  expectancy  of 
his  look  as  he  turned  and  listened 
for  the  steps  of  the  officer  who 
followed  him. 

"  I  shall  never  again  know 
whether  or  not  I  am  alone,"  was 
his  final  observation  as  he  left  our 
presence. 

I  said  nothing  to  my  superiors 
of  the  thoughts  I  had  had  while 
listening  to  the  above  interroga- 
tories. A  theory  had  presented 
itself  to  my  mind  which  explained 
in  some  measure  the  mysteries  of 


68         Cbe  Doctor,  bia  "Mite 

the  Doctor's  conduct,  but  I  wished 
for  time  and  opportunity  to  test 
its  reasonableness  before  submit- 
ting it  to  their  higher  judgment. 
And  these  seemed  likely  to  be 
given  me,  for  the  Inspectors  con- 
tinued divided  in  their  opinion  of 
the  blind  physician's  guilt,  and 
the  District-Attorney,  when  told 
of  the  affair,  pooh-poohed  it  with- 
out mercy,  and  declined  to  stir  in 
the  matter  unless  some  tangible 
evidence  were  forthcoming  to  sub- 
stantiate the  poor  Doctor's  self- 
accusations. 

"If  guilty,  why  does  he  shrink 
from  giving  his  motives,"  said  he, 
"  and  if  so  anxious  to  go  to  the 
gallows,  why  does  he  suppress  the 
very  facts  calculated  to  send  him 
there?  He  is  as  mad  as  a  March 
hare,  and  it  is  to  an  asylum  he 
should  go  and  not  to  a  jail." 


anD  tbe  Clock  69 

In  this  conclusion  I  failed  to 
agree  with  him,  and  as  time  wore 
on  my  suspicions  took  shape  and 
finally  ended  in  a  fixed  conviction. 
Dr.  Zabriskie  had  committed  the 
crime  he  avowed,  but  —  let  me 
proceed  a  little  further  with  my 
story  before  I  reveal  what  lies  be- 
yond that  "  but." 

Notwithstanding  Dr.  Zabriskie's 
almost  frenzied  appeal  for  soli- 
tude, a  man  had  been  placed  in 
surveillance  over  him  in  the  shape 
of  a  young  doctor  skilled  in  dis- 
eases of  the  brain.  This  man 
communicated  more  or  less  with 
the  police,  and  one  morning  I  re- 
ceived from  him  the  following  ex- 
tracts from  the  diary  he  had  been 
ordered  to  keep. 

"  The  Doctor  is  settling  into  a 
deep  melancholy  from  which  he 


70         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  TRUife 

tries  to  rise  at  times,  but  with  only 
indifferent  success.  Yesterday  he 
rode  around  to  all  his  patients  for 
the  purpose  of  withdrawing  his 
services  on  the  plea  of  illness. 
But  he  still  keeps  his  office  open, 
and  to-day  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  witnessing  his  reception  and 
treatment  of  the  many  sufferers 
who  came  to  him  for  aid.  I  think 
he  was  conscious  of  my  presence, 
though  an  attempt  had  been  made 
to  conceal  it.  For  the  listening 
look  never  left  his  face  from  the 
moment  he  entered  the  room,  and 
once  he  rose  and  passed  quickly 
from  wall  to  wall,  groping  with 
outstretched  hands  into  every 
nook  and  corner,  and  barely 
escaping  contact  with  the  curtain 
behind  which  I  was  hidden.  But 
if  he  suspected  my  presence,  he 
showed  no  displeasure  at  it,  wish- 


anO  tbe  CIocr  71 

ing  perhaps  for  a  witness  to  his 
skill  in  the  treatment  of  disease. 

"  And  truly  I  never  beheld  a 
finer  manifestation  of  practical 
insight  in  cases  of  a  more  or  less 
baffling  nature  than  I  beheld  in 
him  to-day.  He  is  certainly  a  most 
wonderful  physician,  and  I  feel 
bound  to  record  that  his  mind  is  as 
clear  for  business  as  if  no  shadow 
had  fallen  upon  it. 

"  Dr.  Zabriskie  loves  his  wife,  but 
in  a  way  that  tortures  both  him- 
self and  her.  If  she  is  gone  from 
the  house  he  is  wretched,  and  yet 
when  she  returns  he  often  forbears 
to  speak  to  her,  or  if  he  does  speak, 
it  is  with  a  constraint  that  hurts 
her  more  than  his  silence.  I  was 
present  when  she  came  in  to-day. 
Her  step,  which  had  been  eager 
on   the  stairway,   flagged    as   she 


72         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  "CClife 

approached  the  room,  and  he 
naturally  noted  the  change  and 
gave  his  own  interpretation  to  it. 
His  face,  which  had  been  very 
pale,  flushed  suddenly,  and  a 
nervous  trembling  seized  him 
which  he  sought  in  vain  to  hide. 
But  by  the  time  her  tall  and 
beautiful  figure  stood  in  the  door- 
way he  was  his  usual  self  again  in 
all  but  the  expression  of  his  eyes, 
which  stared  straight  before  him 
in  an  agony  of  longing  only  to  be 
observed  in  those  who  have  once 
seen. 

"  'Where  have  you  been,  Helen  ?' 
he  asked,  as,  contrary  to  his  wont, 
he  moved  to  meet  her. 

" '  To  my  mother's,  to  Arnold 
&  Constable's,  and  to  the  hospi- 
tal, as  you  requested,'  was  her 
quick  answer,  made  without  falter- 
ing or  embarrassment. 


anO  tbe  Clocft  73 

"  He  stepped  still  nearer  and 
took  her  hand,  and  as  he  did  so 
my  physician's  eye  noted  how  his 
finger  lay  over  her  pulse  in  seem- 
ing unconsciousness. 

"  '  Nowhere  else  ?  '  he  queried. 

"  She  smiled  the  saddest  kind  of 
smile  and  shook  her  head  ;  then, 
remembering  that  he  could  not 
see  this  movement,  she  cried  in  a 
wistful  tone : 

"  '  Nowhere  else,  Constant  ;  I 
was  too  anxious  to  get  back.' 

"  I  expected  him  to  drop  her 
hand  at  this,  but  he  did  not ;  and 
his  finger  still  rested  on  her  pulse. 

"  'And  whom  did  you  see  while 
you  were  gone  ?  '  he  continued. 

"  She  told  him,  naming  over 
several  names. 

"  '  You  must  have  enjoyed  your- 
self,' was  his  cold  comment,  as  he 
let  go  her  hand  and  turned  away. 


74         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  Wife 

But  his  manner  showed  relief,  and 
I  could  not  but  sympathize  with 
the  pitiable  situation  of  a  man 
who  found  himself  forced  to  means 
like  these  for  probing  the  heart  of 
his  young  wife. 

"  Yet  when  I  turned  towards  her 
I  realized  that  her  position  was  but 
little  happier  than  his.  Tears  are 
no  strangers  to  her  eyes,  but  those 
that  welled  up  at  this  moment 
seemed  to  possess  a  bitterness  that 
promised  but  little  peace  for  her 
future.  Yet  she  quickly  dried 
them  and  busied  herself  with  min- 
istrations for  his  comfort. 

"  If  I  am  any  judge  of  woman, 
Helen  Zabriskie  is  superior  to 
most  of  her  sex.  That  her  hus- 
band mistrusts  her  is  evident,  but 
whether  this  is  the  result  of  the 
stand  she  has  taken  in  his  regard, 


ano  tbe  Clock  75 

or  only  a  manifestation  of  demen- 
tia, I  have  as.  yet  been  unable  to 
determine.  I  dread  to  leave  them 
alone  together,  and  yet  when  I 
presume  to  suggest  that  she  should 
be  on  her  guard  in  her  interviews 
with  him,  she  smiles  very  placidly 
and  tells  me  that  nothing  would 
give  her  greater  joy  than  to  see 
him  lift  his  hand  against  her,  for 
that  would  argue  that  he  is  not 
accountable  for  his  deeds  or  for 
his  assertions. 

"  Yet  it  would  be  a  grief  to  see 
her  injured  by  this  passionate  and 
unhappy  man. 

"  You  have  said  that  you  wanted 
all  details  I  could  give ;  so  I  feel 
bound  to  say,  that  Dr.  Zabriskie 
tries  to  be  considerate  of  his  wife, 
though  he  oftens  fails  in  the  at- 
tempt.    When   she    offers  herself 


76         Gbe  S>octor,  bis  Wiite 

as  his  guide,  or  assists  him  with 
his  mail,  or  performs  any  of  the 
many  acts  of  kindness  by  which  she 
continually  manifests  her  sense  of 
his  affliction,  he  thanks  her  with 
courtesy  and  often  with  kindness, 
yet  I  know  she  would  willingly 
exchange  all  his  set  phrases  for 
one  fond  embrace  or  impulsive 
smile  of  affection.  That  he  is  not 
in  the  full  possession  of  his  facul- 
ties would  be  too  much  to  say, 
and  yet  upon  what  other  hy- 
pothesis can  we  account  for  the 
inconsistencies  of  his  conduct. 

"  I  have  before  me  two  visions 
of  mental  suffering.  At  noon  I 
passed  the  office  door,  and  looking 
within,  saw  the  figure  of  Dr.  Za- 
briskie  seated  in  his  great  chair, 
lost  in  thought  or  deep  in  those 
memories  which  make  an  abyss  in 


and  tbe  Clock  77 

one's  consciousness.  His  hands, 
which  were  clenched,  rested  upon 
the  arms  of  his  chair,  and  in  one 
of  them  I  detected  a  woman's 
glove,  which  I  had  no  difficulty  in 
recognizing  as  one  of  the  pair  worn 
by  his  wife  this  morning.  He 
held  it  as  a  tiger  might  hold  his 
prey  or  a  miser  his  gold,  but  his 
set  features  and  sightless  eyes  be- 
trayed that  a  conflict  of  emotions 
was  waging  within  him,  among 
which  tenderness  had  but  little 
share. 

"  Though  alive,  as  he  usually  is, 
to  every  sound,  he  was  too  ab- 
sorbed at  this  moment  to  notice 
my  presence  though  I  had  taken 
no  pains  to  approach  quietly.  I 
therefore  stood  for  a  full  minute 
watching  him,  till  an  irresistible 
sense  of  the  shame  of  thus  spying 
upon  a  blind  man  in  his  moments 


78        Gbe  Doctor,  bis  Wiite 

of  secret  anguish  seized  upon  me 
and  I  turned  away.  But  not  be- 
fore I  saw  his  features  relax  in  a 
storm  of  passionate  feeling,  as  he 
rained  kisses  after  kisses  on  the 
senseless  kid  he  had  so  long  held 
in  his  motionless  grasp.  Yet  when 
an  hour  later  he  entered  the 
dining-room  on  his  wife's  arm, 
there  was  nothing  in  his  manner 
to  show  that  he  had  in  any  way 
changed  in  his  attitude  towards 
her. 

"  The  other  picture  was  more 
tragic  still.  I  have  no  business 
with  Mrs.  Zabriskie's  affairs ;  but 
as  I  passed  upstairs  to  my  room 
an  hour  ago,  I  caught  a  fleeting 
vision  of  her  tall  form,  with  the 
arms  thrown  up  over  her  head  in 
a  paroxysm  of  feeling  which  made 
her  as  oblivious  to  my  presence  as 


and  tbe  Clocfe  79 

her  husband  had  been  several 
hours  before.  Were  the  words 
that  escaped  her  lips  '  Thank 
God  we  have  no  children  ! '  or 
was  this  exclamation  suggested  to 
me  by  the  passion  and  unre- 
strained impulse  of  her  action?" 

Side  by  side  with  these  lines,  I, 
Ebenezer  Gryce,  placed  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  my  own 
diary  : 

"  Watched  the  Zabriskie  mansion 
for  five  hours  this  morning,  from 
the  second  story  window  of  an  ad- 
joining hotel.  Saw  the  Doctor 
when  he  drove  away  on  his  round 
of  visits,  and  saw  him  when  he 
returned.  A  colored  man  accom- 
panied him. 

"  To-day  I  followed  Mrs.  Zabris- 
kie.    I  had  a  motive  for  this,  the 


8o         cbe  Doctor,  bis  mite 


nature  of  which  I  think  it  wisest 
not  to  divulge.  She  went  first  to 
a  house  in  Washington  Place 
where  I  am  told  her  mother  lives. 
Here  she  stayed  some  time,  after 
which  she  drove  down  to  Canal 
Street,  where  she  did  some  shop- 
ping, and  later  stopped  at  the 
hospital,  into  which  I  took  the  lib- 
erty of  following  her.  She  seemed 
to  know  many  there,  and  passed 
from  cot  to  cot  with  a  smile  in 
which  I  alone  discerned  the  sad- 
ness of  a  broken  heart.  When 
she  left,  I  left  also,  without  having 
learned  anything  beyond  the  fact 
that  Mrs.  Zabriskie  is  one  who 
does  her  duty  in  sorrow  as  in  hap- 
piness. A  rare  and  trustworthy 
woman  I  should  say,  and  yet  her 
husband  does  not  trust  her.    Why? 

"  I  have  spent  this  day  in  accu- 


ano  tbe  Clock 


mulating  details  in  regard  to  Dr. 
and  Mrs.  Zabriskie's  life  previous 
to  the  death  of  Mr.  Hasbrouck. 
I  learned  from  sources  it  would  be 
unwise  to  quote  just  here,  that 
Mrs.  Zabriskie  had  not  lacked 
enemies  ready  to  charge  her  with 
coquetry  ;  that  while  she  had 
never  sacrificed  her  dignity  in 
public,  more  than  one  person  had 
been  heard  to  declare,  that  Dr. 
Zabriskie  was  fortunate^  in  being 
blind,  since  the  sight  of  his  wife's 
beauty  would  have  but  poorly 
compensated  him  for  the  pain  he 
would  have  suffered  in  seeing  how 
that  beauty  was  admired. 

"  That  all  gossip  is  more  or  less 
tinged  with  exaggeration  I  have 
no  doubt,  yet  when  a  name  is 
mentioned  in  connection  with 
such  stories,  there  is  usually  some 
truth    at    the    bottom    of    them. 

6 


82         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  TUIUfe 

And  a  name  is  mentioned  in  this 
case,  though  I  do  not  think  it 
worth  my  while  to  repeat  it  here ; 
and  loth  as  I  am  to  recognize  the 
fact,  it  is  a  name  that  carries  with 
it  doubts  that  might  easily  ac- 
count for  the  husband's  jealousy. 
True,  I  have  found  no  one  who 
dares  to  hint  that  she  still  con- 
tinues to  attract  attention  or  to 
bestow  smiles  in  any  direction 
save  where  they  legally  belong. 
For  since  a  certain  memorable 
night  which  we  all  know,  neither 
Dr.  Zabriskie  nor  his  wife  have 
been  seen  save  in  their  own  do- 
mestic circle,  and  it  is  not  into 
such  scenes  that  this  serpent,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  ever  in- 
trudes, nor  is  it  in  places  of  sor- 
row or  suffering  that  his  smile 
shines,  or  his  fascinations  flourish. 
"  And    so    one   portion    of    my 


anO  tbe  Clocfe  83 

theory  is  proved  to  be  sound.  Dr. 
Zabriskie  is  jealous  of  his  wife  : 
whether  with  good  cause  or  bad  I 
am  not  prepared  to  decide ;  for 
her  present  attitude,  clouded  as  it 
is  by  the  tragedy  in  which  she  and 
her  husband  are  both  involved, 
must  differ  very  much  from  that 
which  she  held  when  her  life  was 
unshadowed  by  doubt,  and  her 
admirers  could  be  counted  by  the 
score. 

"  I  have  just  found  out  where 
Harry  is.  As  he  is  in  service 
some  miles  up  the  river,  I  shall 
have  to  be  absent  from  my  post 
for  several  hours,  but  I  consider 
the  game  well  worth  the  candle. 

"  Light  at  last.  I  have  seen 
Harry,  and,  by  means  known  only 
to  the  police,  have  succeeded  in 


84         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  IClife 

making  him  talk.  His  story  is 
substantially  this  :  That  on  the 
night  so  often  mentioned,  he 
packed  his  master's  portmanteau 
at  eight  o'clock  and  at  ten  called 
a  carriage  and  rode  with  the 
Doctor  to  the  Twenty-ninth  Street 
station.  He  was  told  to  buy 
tickets  for  Poughkeepsie  where 
his  master  had  been  called  in  con- 
sultation, and  having  done  this, 
hurried  back  to  join  his  master  on 
the  platform.  They  had  walked 
together  as  far  as  the  cars,  and  Dr. 
Zabriskie  was  just  stepping  on  to 
the  train  when  a  man  pushed  him- 
self hurriedly  between  them  and 
whispered  something  into  his 
master's  ear,  which  caused  him  to 
fall  back  and  lose  his  footing.  Dr. 
Zabriskie's  body  slid  half  under 
the  car,  but  he  was  withdrawn  be- 
fore any  harm  was  done,  though 


anfc  tbe  Clocfc  85 

the  cars  gave  a  lurch  at  that  mo- 
ment which  must  have  frightened 
him  exceedingly,  for  his  face  was 
white  when  he  rose  to  his  feet, 
and  when  Harry  offered  to  assist 
him  again  on  to  the  train,  he  re- 
fused to  go  and  said  he  would 
return  home  and  not  attempt  to 
ride  to  Poughkeepsie  that  night. 

"  The  gentleman,  whom  Harry 
now  saw  to  be  Mr.  Stanton,  an 
intimate  friend  of  Dr.  Zabriskie, 
smiled  very  queerly  at  this,  and 
taking  the  Doctor's  arm  led  him 
away  to  a  carriage.  Harry  natu- 
rally followed  them, but  the  Doctor 
hearing  his  steps,  turned  and  bade 
him,  in  a  very  peremptory  tone,  to 
take  the  omnibus  home,  and  then, 
as  if  on  second  thought,  told  him 
to  go  to  Poughkeepsie  in  his  stead 
and  explain  to  the  people  there 
that  he  was  too  shaken  up  by  his 


86         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  TKHife 

mis-step  to  do  his  duty,  and  that 
he  would  be  with  them  next  morn- 
ing. This  seemed  strange  to  Harry, 
but  he  had  no  reasons  for  disobey- 
ing his  master's  orders,  and  so  rode 
to  Poughkeepsie.  But  the  Doctor 
did  not  follow  him  the  next  day ; 
on  the  contrary  he  telegraphed  for 
him  to  return,  and  when  he  got 
back  dismissed  him  with  a  month's 
wages.  This  ended  Harry's  con- 
nection with  the  Zabriskie  family. 
"  A  simple  story  bearing  out 
what  the  wife  has  already  told  us ; 
but  it  furnishes  a  link  which  may 
prove  invaluable.  Mr.  Stanton, 
whose  first  name  is  Theodore, 
knows  the  real  reason  why  Dr. 
Zabriskie  returned  home  on  the 
night  of  the  seventeenth  of  July, 
185 1.  Mr.  Stanton,  consequently, 
I  must  see,  and  this  shall  be  my 
business  to-morrow. 


an&  tbe  Clock  87 

"  Checkmate  !  Theodore  Stan- 
ton is  not  in  this  country.  Though 
this  points  him  out  as  the  man 
from  whom  Dr.  Zabriskie  bought 
the  pistol,  it  does  not  facilitate  my 
work,  which  is  becoming  more  and 
more  difficult. 

"  Mr.  Stanton's  whereabouts  are 
not  even  known  to  his  most  inti- 
mate friends.  He  sailed  from  this 
country  most  unexpectedly  on  the 
eighteenth  of  July  a  year  ago, 
which  was  the  day  after  the  murder 
of  Mr.  Hasbrouck.  It  looks  like  a 
flight,  especially  as  he  has  failed 
to  maintain  open  communication 
even  with  his  relatives.  Was  he 
the  man  who  shot  Mr.  Hasbrouck  ? 
No  ;  but  he  was  the  man  who  put 
the  pistol  in  Dr.  Zabriskie's  hand 
that  night,  and,  whether  he  did 
this  with  purpose  or  not,  was  evi- 


Gbe  2>octor,  bfs  "Mite 


dently  so  alarmed  at  the  catas- 
trophe which  followed  that  he  took 
the  first  outgoing  steamer  to 
Europe.  So  far,  all  is  clear,  but 
there  are  mysteries  yet  to  be 
solved,  which  will  require  my  ut- 
most tact.  What  if  I  should  seek 
out  the  gentleman  with  whose 
name  that  of  Mrs.  Zabriskie  has 
been  linked,  and  see  if  I  can  in  any 
way  connect  him  with  Mr.  Stanton 
or  the  events  of  that  night  ? 

"  Eureka  !  I  have  discovered 
that  Mr.  Stanton  cherished  a  mor- 
tal hatred  for  the  gentleman  above 
mentioned.  It  was  a  covert  feel- 
ing, but  no  less  deadly  on  that  ac- 
count ;  and  while  it  never  led  him 
into  any  extravagances,  it  was  of 
force  sufficient  to  account  for  many 
a  secret  misfortune  which  hap- 
pened to  that  gentleman.    Now,  if 


anfc  tbe  Clock 


I  can  prove  he  was  the  Mephisto- 
pheles  who  whispered  insinuations 
into  the  ear  of  our  blind  Faust,  I 
may  strike  a  fact  that  will  lead  me 
out  of  this  maze. 

"  But  how  can  I  approach  secrets 
so  delicate  without  compromising 
the  woman  I  feel  bound  to  re- 
spect, if  only  for  the  devoted  love 
she  manifests  for  her  unhappy 
husband  ! 

"  I  shall  have  to  appeal  to  Joe 
Smithers.  This  is  something  which 
I  always  hate  to  do,  but  as  long  as  he 
will  take  money,  and  as  long  as  he 
is  fertile  in  resources  for  obtaining 
the  truth  from  people  I  am  my- 
self unable  to  reach,  so  long  must 
I  make  use  of  his  cupidity  and  his 
genius.  He  is  an  honorable  fellow 
in  one  way,  and  never  retails  as 
gossip  what  he    acquires  for  our 


9o         Cbe  Doctor,  bis  mite 

use.  How  will  he  proceed  in  this 
case,  and  by  what  tactics  will  he 
gain  the  very  delicate  information 
which  we  need  ?  I  own  that  I  am 
curious  to  see. 

"  I  shall  really  have  to  put  down 
at  length  the  incidents  of  this 
night.  I  always  knew  that  Joe 
Smithers  was  invaluable  to  the 
police,  but  I  really  did  not  know 
he  possessed  talents  of  so  high  an 
order.  He  wrote  me  this  morning 
that  he  had   succeeded  in  getting 

Mr.  T 's  promise  to  spend  the 

evening  with  him,  and  advised  me 
that  if  I  desired  to  be  present  also, 
his  own  servant  would  not  be  at 
home,  and  that  an  opener  of  bot- 
tles would  be  required. 

"  As  I  was  very  anxious  to  see 

Mr.  T with  my  own  eyes,  I 

accepted  the  invitation  to  play  the 


ano  tbe  Clock  91 

spy  upon  a  spy,  and  went  at  the 
proper  hour  to  Mr.  Smithers's 
rooms,  which  are  in  the  University 
Building.  I  found  them  pictu- 
resque in  the  extreme.  Piles  of 
books  stacked  here  and  there  to  the 
ceiling  made  nooks  and  corners 
which  could  be  quite  shut  off  by  a 
couple  of  old  pictures  that  were  set 
into  movable  frames  that  swung 
out  or  in  at  the  whim  or  conven- 
ience of  the  owner. 

"  As  I  liked  the  dark  shadows 
cast  by  these  pictures,  I  pulled 
them  both  out,  and  made  such 
other  arrangements  as  appeared 
likely  to  facilitate  the  purpose  I 
had  in  view,  then  I  sat  down  and 
waited  for  the  two  gentlemen  who 
were  expected  to  come  in  to- 
gether. 

"  They  arrived  almost  immedi- 
ately, whereupon  I  rose  and  played 


92         Gbe  Doctor,  bis  TKfltte 

my  part  with  all  necessary  dis- 
cretion.   While  ridding  Mr.  T 

of  his  overcoat,  I  stole  a  look  at  his 
face.  It  is  not  a  handsome  one, 
but  it  boasts  of  a  gay,  devil-may- 
care  expression  which  doubtless 
makes  it  dangerous  to  many 
women,  while  his  manners  are 
especially  attractive,  and  his  voice 
the  richest  and  most  persuasive 
that  I  ever  heard.  I  contrasted 
him,  almost  against  my  will,  with 
Dr.  Zabriskie,  and  decided  that 
with  most  women  the  former's  un- 
doubted fascinations  of  speech  and 
bearing  would  outweigh  the  lat- 
ter's  great  beauty  and  mental  en- 
dowments ;  but  I  doubted  if  they 
would  with  her. 

"  The  conversation  which  imme- 
diately began  was  brilliant  but 
desultory,  for  Mr.  Smithers,  with 
an  airy  lightness  for  which  he  is 


ano  tbe  Clock  93 

remarkable,  introduced  topic  after 
topic,  perhaps  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  off  Mr.  T 's  versatil- 
ity, and  perhaps  for  the  deeper 
and  more  sinister  purpose  of 
shaking  the  kaleidoscope  of  talk 
so  thoroughly,  that  the  real  topic 
which  we  were  met  to  discuss 
should  not  make  an  undue  impres- 
sion on  the  mind  of  his  guest. 

"  Meanwhile  one,  two,  three  bot- 
tles passed,  and  I  saw  Joe  Smith- 
ers's  eye  grow  calmer  and  that  of 

Mr.  T more  brilliant  and  more 

uncertain.  As  the  last  bottle 
showed  signs  of  failing,  Joe  cast 
me  a  meaning  glance,  and  the  real 
business  of  the  evening  began. 

"  I  shall  not  attempt  to  relate 
the  half-dozen  failures  which  Joe 
made  in  endeavoring  to  elicit  the 
facts  we  were  in  search  of,  without 
arousing  the  suspicion  of  his  vis- 


94         £be  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

itor.  I  am  only  going  to  relate 
the  successful  attempt.  They  had 
been  talking  now  for  some  hours, 
and  I,  who  had  long  before  been 
waved  from  their  immediate  pres- 
ence, was  hiding  my  curiosity  and 
growing  excitement  behind  one  of 
the  pictures,  when  suddenly  I 
heard  Joe  say : 

"  '  He  has  the  most  remarkable 
memory  I  ever  met.  He  can  tell 
to  a  day  when  any  notable  event 
occurred.' 

"  '  Pshaw  !  '  answered  his  com- 
panion, who,  by  the  by,  was 
known  to  pride  himself  upon  his 
own  memory  for  dates, '  I  can  state 
where  I  went  and  what  I  did  on 
every  day  in  the  year.  That  may 
not  embrace  what  you  call  '  nota- 
ble events,'  but  the  memory  re- 
quired is  all  the  more  remarkable, 
is  it  not  ?  ' 


and  tbe  Clocfe  95 

"  '  Pooh  !  '  was  his  friend's  pro- 
voking reply,  '  you  are  bluffing, 
Ben ;  I  will  never  believe  that.' 

"  Mr.  T ,  who  had  passed  by 

this  time  into  that  state  of  intoxi- 
cation which  makes  persistence  in 
an  assertion  a  duty  as  well  as  a 
pleasure,  threw  back  his  head,  and 
as  the  wreaths  of  smoke  rose  in 
airy  spirals  from  his  lips,  reiterated 
his  statement,  and  offered  to  sub- 
mit to  any  test  of  his  vaunted  pow- 
ers which  the  other  might  dictate. 

"  '  You  have  a  diary '  began 

Joe. 

"  '  Which  is  at  home,'  completed 
the  other. 

"  '  Will  you  allow  me  to  refer  to 
it  to-morrow,  if  I  am  suspicious  of 
the  accuracy  of  your  recollec- 
tions? ' 

"  '  Undoubtedly,'  returned  the 
other. 


96         Cbe  Boctor,  bis  "Mite 


"  '  Very  well,  then,  I  will  wager 
you  a  cool  fifty,  that  you  cannot 
tell  where  you  were  between  the 
hours  of  ten  and  eleven  on  a  cer- 
tain night  which  I  will  name.' 

"  '  Done  !  '  cried  the  other,  bring- 
ing out  his  pocket-book  and  laying 
it  on  the  table  before  him. 

"  Joe  followed  his  example  and 
then  summoned  me. 

"  '  Write  a  date  down  here,'  he 
commanded,  pushing  a  piece  of 
paper  towards  me,  with  a  look 
keen  as  the  flash  of  a  blade.  '  Any 
date,  man,'  he  added,  as  I  ap- 
peared to  hesitate  in  the  embar- 
rassment I  thought  natural  under 
the  circumstances.  '  Put  down  day, 
month,  and  year,  only  don't  go 
too  far  back  ;  not  farther  than  two 
years.' 

"  Smiling  with  the  air  of  a  flunkey 
admitted  to  the  sports  of  his  su- 


anO  tbe  Clock  97 

periors,  I  wrote  a  line  and  laid  it 
before  Mr.  Smithers,  who  at  once 
pushed  it  with  a  careless  gesture 
towards  his  companion.  You  can 
of  course   guess  the  date   I  made 

useof:  July  17,  1851.     Mr.  T , 

who  had  evidently  looked  upon 
this  matter  as  mere  play,  flushed 
scarlet  as  he  read  these  words, 
and  for  one  instant  looked  as  if 
he  had  rather  flee  our  presence 
than  answer  Joe  Smithers's  non- 
chalant glance  of  inquiry. 

"  '  I  have  given  my  word  and  will 
keep  it,'  he  said  at  last,  but  with 
a  look  in  my  direction  that  sent 
me  reluctantly  back  to  my  retreat. 
'I  don't  suppose  you  want  names,' 
he  went  on,  'that  is,  if  anything  I 
have  to  tell  is  of  a  delicate 
nature  ? ' 

" '  O   no,'  answered    the    other, 

'  only  facts  and  places.' 
7 


98         Zbc  Doctor,  bis  TliCUfe 

"  '  I  don't  think  places  are  neces- 
sary either,'  he  returned.  '  I  will 
tell  you  what  I  did  and  that  must 
serve  you.  I  did  not  promise  to 
give  number  and  street.' 

"  '  Well,  well,'  Joe  exclaimed  ; 
'  earn  your  fifty,  that  is  all.  Show 
that  you  remember  where  you 
were  on  the  night  of ' — and  with 
an  admirable  show  of  indiffer- 
ence he  pretended  to  consult  the 
paper  between  them — !  the  seven- 
teenth of  July,  185 1,  and  I  shall 
be  satisfied.' 

" '  I  was   at   the    club    for   one 

thing,'    said  Mr.  T ;  'then    I 

went  to  see  a  lady  friend,  where  I 
stayed  till  eleven.  She  wore  a  blue 
muslin What  is  that  ?  ' 

"  I  had  betrayed  myself  by  a 
quick  movement  which  sent  a  glass 
tumbler  crashing  to  the  floor. 
Helen  Zabriskie  had  worn  a  blue 


ano  tbe  Clock  99 

muslin  on  that  same  night.  I  had 
noted  it  when  I  stood  on  the 
balcony  watching  her  and  her 
husband. 

"'  That  noise  ?  '  It  was  Joe  who 
was  speaking.  '  You  don't  know 
Reuben  as  well  as  I  do  or  you 
would  n't  ask.  It  is  his  practice, 
I  am  sorry  to  say,  to  accentuate 
his  pleasure  in  draining  my  bot- 
tles, by  dropping  a  glass  at  every 
third  one.' 

"  Mr.  T went  on. 

"  '  She  was  a  married  woman  and 
I  thought  she  loved  me  ;  but — 
and  this  is  the  greatest  proof  I 
can  offer  you  that  I  am  giving 
you  a  true  account  of  that  night 
— she  had  not  had  the  slightest 
idea  of  the  extent  of  my  passion, 
and  only  consented  to  see  me  at 
all  because  she  thought,  poor  thing, 
that  a  word   from  her  would  set 


ioo       Gbe  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

me  straight,  and  rid  her  of  atten- 
tions that  were  fast  becoming  ob- 
noxious. A  sorry  figure  for  a 
fellow  to  cut  who  has  not  been 
without  his  triumphs;  but  you 
caught  me  on  the  most  detestable 

date  in  my  calendar,  and ' 

"  There  is  where  he  stopped  be- 
ing interesting,  so  I  will  not  waste 
time  by  quoting  further.  And 
now  what  reply  shall  I  make  when 
Joe  Smithers  asks  me  double  his 
usual  price,  as  he  will  be  sure  to 
do,  next  time  ?  Has  he  not  earned 
an  advance?     I  really  think  so. 

"  I  have  spent  the  whole  day  in 
weaving  together  the  facts  I  have 
gleaned,  and  the  suspicions  I  have 
formed,  into  a  consecutive  whole 
likely  to  present  my  theory  in  a 
favorable  light  to  my  superiors. 
But  just  as  1  thought  myself  in 


ano  tbe  Clock 


shape  to  meet  their  inquiries,  I  re- 
ceived an  immediate  summons 
into  their  presence,  where  I  was 
given  a  duty  to  perform  of  so  ex- 
traordinary and  unexpected  a  na- 
ture, that  it  effectually  drove  from 
my  mind  all  my  own  plans  for 
the  elucidation  of  the  Zabriskie 
mystery. 

"  This  was  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  to  take  charge  of  a  party  of 
people  who  were  going  to  the 
Jersey  heights  for  the  purpose  of 
testing  Dr.  Zabriskie's  skill  with  a 
pistol." 


i02        Gbe  5>octor,  bis  "CCltfe 


III. 

THE  cause  of  this  sudden  move 
was  soon  explained  to  me. 
Mrs.  Zabriskie,  anxious  to  have  an 
end  put  to  the  present  condition 
of  affairs,  had  begged  for  a  more 
rigid  examination  into  her  hus- 
band's state.  This  being  accorded, 
a  strict  and  impartial  inquiry  had 
taken  place,  with  a  result  not  un- 
like that  which  followed  the  first 
one.  Three  out  of  his  four  inter- 
rogators judged  him  insane,  and 
could  not  be  moved  from  their 
opinion  though  opposed  by  the 
verdict  of  the  young  expert  who 
had  been  living  in  the  house  with 
him.  Dr.  Zabriskie  seemed  to 
read  their  thoughts,  and,  showing 


anO  tbe  Glocfe  103 

extreme  agitation,  begged  as  be- 
fore for  an  opportunity  to  prove 
his  sanity  by  showing  his  skill  in 
shooting.  This  time  a  disposition 
was  evinced  to  grant  his  request, 
which  Mrs.  Zabriskie  no  sooner 
perceived,  than  she  added  her 
supplications  to  his  that  the 
question  might  be  thus  settled. 

A  pistol  was  accordingly 
brought  ;  but  at  sight  of  it  her 
courage  failed,  and  she  changed 
her  prayer  to  an  entreaty  that  the 
experiment  should  be  postponed 
till  the  next  day,  and  should  then 
take  place  in  the  woods  away  from 
the  sight  and  hearing  of  needless 
spectators. 

Though  it  would  have  been 
much  wiser  to  have  ended  the 
matter  there  and  then,  the  Super- 
intendent was  prevailed  upon  to 
listen  to  her  entreaties,  and  thus 


104        XLbc  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

it  was  that  I  came  to  be  a  spectator, 
if  not  a  participator,  in  the  final 
scene  of  this  most  sombre  drama. 

There  are  some  events  which 
impress  the  human  mind  so  deeply 
that  their  memory  mingles  with 
all  after-experiences.  Though  I 
have  made  it  a  rule  to  forget  as 
soon  as  possible  the  tragic  epi- 
sodes into  which  I  am  constantly 
plunged,  there  is  one  scene  in  my 
life  which  will  not  depart  at  my 
will ;  and  that  is  the  sight  which 
met  my  eyes  from  the  bow  of  the 
small  boat  in  which  Dr.  Zabriskie 
and  his  wife  were  rowed  over  to 
Jersey  on  that  memorable  after- 
noon. 

Though  it  was  by  no  means  late 
in  the  day,  the  sun  was  already 
sinking,  and  the  bright  red  glare 
which  filled  the  heavens  and  shone 
full    upon    the  faces   of  the   half- 


ano  tbe  Clock  105 

dozen  persons  before  me  added 
much  to  the  tragic  nature  of  the 
scene,  though  we  were  far  from 
comprehending  its  full  significance. 

The  Doctor  sat  with  his  wife  in 
the  stern,  and  it  was  upon  their 
faces  my  glance  was  fixed.  The 
glare  shone  luridly  on  his  sightless 
eyeballs,  and  as  I  noticed  his  un- 
winking lids  I  realized  as  never  be- 
fore what  it  was  to  be  blind  in  the 
midst  of  sunshine.  Her  eyes,  on 
the  contrary,  were  lowered,  but 
there  was  a  look  of  hopeless  misery 
in  her  colorless  face  which  made 
her  appearance  infinitely  pathetic, 
and  I  felt  confident  that  if  he 
could  only  have  seen  her,  he  would 
not  have  maintained  the  cold  and 
unresponsive  manner  which  chilled 
the  words  on  her  lips  and  made  all 
advance  on  her  part  impossible. 

On  the  seat  in  front  of  them  sat 


106        Gbe  Doctor,  bis  Wiite 

the  Inspector  and  a  doctor,  and 
from  some  quarter,  possibly  from 
under  the  Inspector's  coat,  there 
came  the  monotonous  ticking  of 
a  small  clock,  which,  I  had  been 
told,  was  to  serve  as  a  target  for 
the  blind  man's  aim. 

This  ticking  was  all  I  heard, 
though  the  noise  and  bustle  of 
a  great  traffic  was  pressing  upon 
us  on  every  side.  And  I  am  sure 
it  was  all  that  she  heard,  as,  with 
hand  pressed  to  her  heart  and  eyes 
fixed  on  the  opposite  shore,  she 
waited  for  the  event  which  was  to 
determine  whether  the  man  she 
loved  was  a  criminal  or  only  a 
being  afflicted  of  God,  and  worthy 
of  her  unceasing  care  and  devo- 
tion. 

As  the  sun  cast  its  last  scarlet 
gleam  over  the  water,  the  boat 
grounded,  and  it  fell  to  my  lot  to 


an&  tbe  Cloch  107 

assist  Mrs.  Zabriskie  up  the  bank. 
As  I  did  so,  I  allowed  myself  to 
say :  "  I  am  your  friend,  Mrs.  Za- 
briskie," and  was  astonished  to  see 
her  tremble,  and  turn  toward  me 
with  a  look  like  that  of  a  fright- 
ened child. 

But  there  was  always  this  char- 
acteristic blending  in  her  counte- 
nance of  the  childlike  and  the 
severe,  such  as  may  so  often  be 
seen  in  the  faces  of  nuns,  and  be- 
yond an  added  pang  of  pity  for 
this  beautiful  but  afflicted  woman, 
I  let  the  moment  pass  without 
giving  it  the  weight  it  perhaps 
demanded. 

"  The  Doctor  and  his  wife  had  a 
long  talk  last  night,"  was  whispered 
in  my  ear  as  we  wound  our  way 
along  into  the  woods.  I  turned  and 
perceived  at  my  side  the  expert 
physician,  portions  of  whose  diary 


108  .      Gbe  Doctor,  bis  THMfe 

I  have  already  quoted.  He  had 
come  by  another  boat. 

"  But  it  did  not  seem  to  heal 
whatever  breach  lies  between 
them,"  he  proceeded.  Then  in 
a  quick,  curious  tone,  he  asked  : 
"  Do  you  believe  this  attempt  on 
his  part  is  likely  to  prove  anything 
but  a  farce  ?  " 

"  I  believe  he  will  shatter  the 
clock  to  pieces  with  his  first  shot," 
I  answered,  and  could  say  no  more, 
for  we  had  already  reached  the 
ground  which  had  been  selected 
for  this  trial  at  arms,  and  the  vari- 
ous members  of  the  party  were 
being  placed  in  their  several  posi- 
tions. 

The  Doctor,  to  whom  light  and 
darkness  were  alike,  stood  with 
his  face  towards  the  western  glow, 
and  at  his  side  were  grouped  the 
Inspector  and  the  two  physicians. 


ano  tbe  Clock  109 

On  the  arm  of  one  of  the  latter 
hung  Dr.  Zabriskie's  overcoat, 
which  he  had  taken  off  as  soon 
as  he  reached  the  field. 

Mrs.  Zabriskie  stood  at  the 
other  end  of  the  opening,  near  a 
tall  stump,  upon  which  it  had  been 
decided  that  the  clock  should  be 
placed  when  the  moment  came  for 
the  Doctor  to  show  his  skill.  She 
had  been  accorded  the  privilege  of 
setting  the  clock  on  this  stump, 
and  I  saw  it  shining  in  her  hand 
as  she  paused  for  a  moment  to 
glance  back  at  the  circle  of  gen- 
tlemen  who  were  awaiting  her 
movements.  The  hands  of  the 
clock  stood  at  five  minutes  to  five, 
though  I  scarcely  noted  the  fact 
at  the  time,  for  her  eyes  were  on 
mine,  and  as  she  passed  me  she 
spoke  : 

"  If  he  is  not  himself,  he  cannot 


no        Jibe  Doctor,  bis  TKntfe 

be  trusted.  Watch  him  carefully, 
and  see  that  he  does  no  mischief 
to  himself  or  others.  Be  at  his 
right  hand,  and  stop  him  if  he  does 
not  handle  his  pistol  properly." 

I  promised,  and  she  passed  on, 
setting  the  clock  upon  the  stump 
and  immediately  drawing  back  to 
a  suitable  distance  at  the  right, 
where  she  stood,  wrapped  in  her 
long  dark  cloak,  quite  alone.  Her 
face  shone  ghastly  white,  even  in 
its  environment  of  snow-covered 
boughs  which  surrounded  her,  and, 
noting  this,  I  wished  the  minutes 
fewer  between  the  present  mo- 
ment and  the  hour  of  five,  at 
which  he  was  to  draw  the  trigger. 

"  Dr.  Zabriskie,"  quoth  the  In- 
spector, "  we  have  endeavored  to 
make  this  trial  a  perfectly  fair  one. 
You  are  to  have  one  shot  at  a 
small  clock  which  has  been  placed 


anD  tbe  Clock 


within  a  suitable  distance,  and 
which  you  are  expected  to  hit, 
guided  only  by  the  sound  which  it 
will  make  in  striking  the  hour  of 
five.  Are  you  satisfied  with  the 
arrangement  ?  " 

"  Perfectly.  Where  is  my  wife  ?  " 

"  On  the  other  side  of  the  field, 
some  ten  paces  from  the  stump 
upon  which  the  clock  is  fixed." 

He  bowed,  and  his  face  showed 
satisfaction. 

"  May  I  expect  the  clock  to 
strike  soon  ?  " 

"  In  less  than  five  minutes,"  was 
the  answer. 

"  Then  let  me  have  the  pistol ; 
I  wish  to  become  acquainted  with 
its  size  and  weight." 

We  glanced  at  each  other,  then 
across  at  her. 

She  made  a  gesture  ;  it  was  one 
of  acquiescence, 


n2       Cbe  Doctor,  bts  mite 

Immediately  the  Inspector 
placed  the  weapon  in  the  blind 
man's  hand.  It  was  at  once  ap- 
parent that  the  Doctor  understood 
the  instrument,  and  my  last  doubt 
vanished  as  to  the  truth  of  all  he 
had  told  us. 

"  Thank  God  I  am  blind  this 
hour  and  cannot  see  her,'"  fell  un- 
consciously from  his  lips ;  then, 
before  the  echo  of  these  words 
had  left  my  ears,  he  raised  his 
voice  and  observed  calmly  enough, 
considering  that  he  was  about  to 
prove  himself  a  criminal  in  order 
to  save  himself  from  being  thought 
a  madman, 

"  Let  no  one  move.  I  must 
have  my  ears  free  for  catching 
the  first  stroke  of  the  clock."  And 
he  raised  the  pistol  before  him. 

There  was  a  moment  of  tortur- 
ing suspense  and  deep,  unbroken 


aHO  tbe  Clock  113 

silence.  My  eyes  were  on  him, 
and  so  I  did  not  watch  the  clock, 
but  suddenly  I  was  moved  by  some 
irresistible  impulse  to  note  how 
Mrs.  Zabriskie  was  bearing  herself 
at  this  critical  moment,  and, casting 
a  hurried  glance  in  her  direction, 
I  perceived  her  tall  figure  swaying 
from  side  to  side,  as  if  under  an 
intolerable  strain  of  feeling.  Her 
eyes  were  on  the  clock,  the  hands 
of  which  seemed  to  creep  with 
snail-like  pace  along  the  dial, 
when  unexpectedly,  and  a  full  min- 
ute before  the  minute  hand  had 
reached  the  stroke  of  five,  I  caught 
a  movement  on  her  part,  saw  the 
flash  of  something  round  and  white 
show  for  an  instant  against  the 
darkness  of  her  cloak,  and  was 
about  to  shriek  warning  to  the 
Doctor,  when  the  shrill,  quick 
stroke  of  a  clock  rung  out  on  the 


n4       Gbe  Doctor,  bis  TIClife 

frosty  air,  followed  by  the  ping 
and  flash  of  a  pistol. 

A  sound  of  shattered  glass,  fol- 
lowed by  a  suppressed  cry,  told  us 
that  the  bullet  had  struck  the 
mark,  but  before  we  could  move, 
or  rid  our  eyes  of  the  smoke  which 
the  wind  had  blown  into  our  faces, 
there  came  another  sound  which 
made  our  hair  stand  on  end  and 
sent  the  blood  back  in  terror  to 
our  hearts.  Another  clock  was 
striking,  the  clock  which  we  now 
perceived  was  still  standing  up- 
right on  the  stump  where  Mrs. 
Zabriskie  had  placed  it. 

Whence  came  the  clock,  then, 
which  had  struck  before  the  time 
and  been  shattered  for  its  pains  ? 
One  quick  look  told  us.  On  the 
ground,  ten  paces  at  the  right,  lay 
Helen  Zabriskie,  a  broken  clock  at 
her  side,  and  in  her  breast  a  bullet 


an£>  tbe  Clock  115 

which  was    fast    sapping  the   life 
from  her  sweet  eyes. 

We  had  to  tell  him,  there  was 
such  pleading  in  her  looks ;  and 
never  shall  I  forget  the  scream  that 
rang  from  his  lips  as  he  realized 
the  truth.  Breaking  from  our 
midst,  he  rushed  forward,  and  fell 
at  her  feet  as  if  guided  by  some 
supernatural  instinct. 

"  Helen,"  he  shrieked,  "  what  is 
this  ?  Were  not  my  hands  dyed 
deep  enough  in  blood  that  you 
should  make  me  answerable  for 
your  life  also  ?  ' 

Her  eyes  were  closed,  but  she 
opened  them.  Looking  long  and 
steadily  at  his  agonized  face,  she 
faltered  forth  : 

"  It  is  not  you  who  have  killed 
me;  it  is  your  crime.  Had  you 
been  innocent  of  Mr.  Hasbrouck's 


u6       cbe  Doctor,  bis  "Mite 

death,  your  bullet  would  never 
have  found  my  heart.  Did  you 
think  I  could  survive  the  proof 
that   you   had    killed    that   good 

•\  ft 

man  ? 

"  I — I    did    it    unwittingly.      I 


"  Hush  !  "  she  commanded,  with 
an  awful  look,  which,  happily,  he 
could  not  see.  "  I  had  another 
motive.  I  wished  to  prove  to  you, 
even  at  the  cost  of  my  life,  that  I 
loved  you,  had  always  loved  you, 
and  not " 

It  was  now  his  turn  to  silence 
her.  His  hand  crept  over  her  lips, 
and  his  despairing  face  turned  itself 
blindly  towards  us. 

"  Go,"  he  cried  ;  "  leave  us !  Let 
me  take  a  last  farewell  of  my 
dying  wife,  without  listeners  or 
spectators." 

Consulting  the  eye  of  the  phy- 


ano  tbe  Clock  117 

sician  who  stood  beside  me,  and 
seeing  no  hope  in  it,  I  fell  slowly 
back.  The  others  followed,  and 
the  Doctor  was  left  alone  with  his 
wife.  From  the  distant  position 
we  took,  we  saw  her  arms  creep 
round  his  neck,  saw  her  head  fall 
confidingly  on  his  breast,  then 
silence  settled  upon  them  and 
upon  all  nature,  the  gathering  twi- 
light deepening,  till  the  last  glow 
disappeared  from  the  heavens' 
above  and  from  the  circle  of  leaf- 
less trees  which  enclosed  this  tra- 
gedy from  the  outside  world. 

But  at  last  there  came  a  stir, 
and  Dr.  Zabriskie,  rising  up  before 
us,  with  the  dead  body  of  his  wife 
held  closely  to  his  breast,  con- 
fronted us  with  a  countenance  so 
rapturous  that  he  looked  like  a 
man  transfigured. 

"  I  will  carry  her  to  the  boat," 


n8       Gbe  Doctor,  bis  WLite 

said  he.  "  Not  another  hand  shall 
touch  her.  She  was  my  true  wife, 
my  true  wife  !  "  And  he  towered 
into  an  attitude  of  such  dignity 
and  passion,  that  for  a  moment 
he  took  on  heroic  proportions  and 
we  forgot  that  he  had  just  proved 
himself  to  have  committed  a  cold- 
blooded and  ghastly  crime. 

The  stars  were  shining  when  we 
again  took  our  seats  in  the  boat ; 
and  if  the  scene  of  our  crossing  to 
Jersey  was  impressive,  what  shall 
be  said  of  that  of  our  return. 

The  Doctor,  as  before,  sat  in  the 
stern,  an  awesome  figure,  upon 
which  the  moon  shone  with  a 
white  radiance  that  seemed  to  lift 
his  face  out  of  the  surrounding 
darkness  and  set  it,  like  an  image 
of  frozen  horror,  before  our  eyes. 
Against   his   breast   he   held    the 


and  tbe  Clock  ng 

form  of  his  dead  wife,  and  now 
and  then  I  saw  him  stoop  as  if  he 
were  listening  for  some  tokens  of 
life  at  her  set  lips.  Then  he  would 
lift  himself  again,  with  hopeless- 
ness stamped  upon  his  features, 
only  to  lean  forward  in  renewed 
hope  that  was  again  destined  to 
disappointment. 

The  Inspector  and  the  accom- 
panying physician  had  taken  seats 
in  the  bow,  and  unto  me  had  been 
assigned  the  special  duty  of  watch- 
ing over  the  Doctor.  This  I  did 
from  a  low  seat  in  front  of  him. 
I  was  therefore  so  close  that  I 
heard  his  laboring  breath,  and 
though  my  heart  was  full  of  awe 
and  compassion,  I  could  not  pre- 
vent myself  from  bending  towards 
him  and  saying  these  words  : 

"  Dr.  Zabriskie,  the  mystery  of 
your  crime  is  no  longer  a  mystery 


120       XLbe  2>octor,  bis  tKfltfe 

to  me.  Listen  and  see  if  I  do  not 
understand  your  temptation,  and 
how  you,  a  conscientious  and  God- 
fearing man,  came  to  slay  your 
innocent  neighbor. 

"  A  friend  of  yours,  or  so  he 
called  himself,  had  for  a  long  time 
filled  your  ears  with  tales  tending 
to  make  you  suspicious  of  your 
wife  and  jealous  of  a  certain  man 
whom  I  will  not  name.  You  knew 
that  your  friend  had  a  grudge 
against  this  man,  and  so  for  many 
months  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his 
insinuations.  But  finally  some 
change  which  you  detected  in  your 
wife's  bearing  or  conversation 
roused  your  own  suspicions,  and 
you  began  to  doubt  if  all  was  false 
that  came  to  your  ears,  and  to  curse 
your  blindness,  which  in  a  measure 
rendered  you  helpless.  The  jeal- 
ous fever  grew  and  had  risen  to  a 


ano  tbe  Clock  121 

high  point,  when  one  night — a 
memorable  night — this  friend  met 
you  just  as  you  were  leaving  town, 
and  with  cruel  craft  whispered  in 
your  ear  that  the  man  you  hated 
was  even  then  with  your  wife,  and 
that  if  you  would  return  at  once 
to  your  home  you  would  find  him 
in  her  company. 

"  The  demon  that  lurks  at  the 
heart  of  all  men,  good  or  bad, 
thereupon  took  complete  posses- 
sion of  you,  and  you  answered  this 
false  friend  by  saying  that  you 
would  not  return  without  a  pistol. 
Whereupon  he  offered  to  take  you 
to  his  house  and  give  you  his. 
You  consented,  and  getting  rid  of 
your  servant  by  sending  him  to 
Poughkeepsie  with  your  excuses, 
you  entered  a  coach  with  your 
friend. 

"  You  say  you  bought  the  pistol, 


122       Cbe  Doctor,  bis  TJQUfe 

and  perhaps  you  did,  but,  however 
that  may  be,  you  left  his  house 
with  it  in  your  pocket  and,  declin- 
ing companionship,  walked  home, 
arriving  at  the  Colonnade  a  little 
before  midnight. 

"  Ordinarily  you  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  recognizing  your  own 
doorstep.  But,  being  in  a  heated 
frame  of  mind,  you  walked  faster 
than  usual  and  so  passed  your  own 
house  and  stopped  at  that  of  Mr. 
Hasbrouck's,  one  door  beyond. 
As  the  entrances  of  these  houses 
are  all  alike,  there  was  but  one  way 
by  which  you  could  have  made 
yourself  sure  that  you  had  reached 
your  own  dwelling,  and  that  was 
by  feeling  for  the  doctor's  sign  at 
the  side  of  the  door.  But  you 
never  thought  of  that.  Absorbed 
in  dreams  of  vengeance,  your  sole 
impulse  was  to  enter  by  the  quick- 


ano  tbe  Clock  123 

est  means  possible.  Taking  out 
your  night-key,  you  thrust  it  into 
the  lock.  It  fitted,  but  it  took 
strength  to  turn  it,  so  much 
strength  that  the  key  was  twisted 
and  bent  by  the  effort.  But  this 
incident,  which  would  have  at- 
tracted your  attention  at  another 
time,  was  lost  upon  you  at  this 
moment.  An  entrance  had  been 
effected,  and  you  were  in  too  ex- 
cited a  frame  of  mind  to  notice  at 
what  cost,  or  to  detect  the  small 
differences  apparent  in  the  atmos- 
phere and  furnishings  of  the  two 
houses — trifles  which  would  have 
arrested  your  attention  under 
other  circumstances,  and  made  you 
pause  before  the  upper  floor  had 
been  reached. 

"  It  was  while  going  up  the 
stairs  that  you  took  out  your  pis- 
tol, so  that  by  the  time  you  ar- 


124       tTbe  SJoctor,  bis  tflife 

rived  at  the  front-room  door  you 
held  it  ready  cocked  and  drawn  in 
your  hand.  For,  being  blind,  you 
feared  escape  on  the  part  of  your 
victim,  and  so  waited  for  nothing 
but  the  sound  of  a  man's  voice  be- 
fore firing.  When,  therefore,  the 
unfortunate  Mr.Hasbrouck,roused 
by  this  sudden  intrusion,  advanced 
with  an  exclamation  of  astonish- 
ment, you  pulled  the  trigger,  kill- 
ing him  on  the  spot.  It  must  have 
been  immediately  upon  his  fall 
that  you  recognized  from  some 
word  he  uttered,  or  from  some 
contact  you  may  have  had  with 
your  surroundings,  that  you  were 
in  the  wrong  house  and  had  killed 
the  wrong  man  ;  for  you  cried  out, 
in  evident  remorse,  '  God  !  what 
have  I  done  ! '  and  fled  without 
approaching  your  victim. 

"  Descending    the     stairs,    you 


ano  tbe  Clock  125 

rushed  from  the  house,  closing  the 
front  door  behind  you  and  regain- 
ing your  own  without  being  seen. 
But  here  you  found  yourself  baf- 
fled in  your  attempted  escape,  by 
two  things.  First,  by  the  pistol 
you  still  held  in  your  hand,  and 
secondly,  by  the  fact  that  the  key 
upon  which  you  depended  for  en- 
tering your  own  door  was  so 
twisted  out  of  shape  that  you  knew 
it  would  be  useless  for  you  to  at- 
tempt to  use  it.  What  did  you  do 
in  this  emergency?  You  have 
already  told  us,  though  the  story 
seemed  so  improbable  at  the  time, 
you  found  nobody  to  believe  it 
but  myself.  The  pistol  you  flung 
far  away  from  you  down  the  pave- 
ment, from  which,  by  one  of  those 
rare  chances  which  sometimes 
happen  in  this  world,  it  was  pres- 
ently  picked    up    by   some    late 


126       Gbe  Doctor,  bt9  Wife 

passer-by  of  more  or  less  doubtful 
character.  The  door  offered  less 
of  an  obstacle  than  you  antici- 
pated ;  for  when  you  turned  to  it 
again  you  found  it,  if  I  am  not 
greatly  mistaken,  ajar,  left  so,  as 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  by  one 
who  had  gone  out  of  it  but  a  few 
minutes  before  in  a  state  which 
left  him  but  little  master  of  his  ac- 
tions. It  was  this  fact  which  pro- 
vided you  with  an  answer  when 
you  were  asked  how  you  succeeded 
in  getting  into  Mr.  Hasbrouck's 
house  after  the  family  had  retired 
for  the  night. 

"  Astonished  at  the  coincidence, 
but  hailing  with  gladness  the  de- 
liverance which  it  offered, you  went 
in  and  ascended  at  once  into  your 
wife's  presence  ;  and  it  was  from 
her  lips,  and  not  from  those  of 
Mrs.  Hasbrouck,  that  the  cry  arose 


ano  tbe  Clock  127 

which  startled  the  neighborhood 
and  prepared  men's  minds  for  the 
tragic  words  which  were  shouted 
a  moment  later  from  the  next 
house. 

"  But  she  who  uttered  the  scream 
knew  of  no  tragedy  save  that 
which  was  taking  place  in  her  own 
breast.  She  had  just  repulsed  a 
dastardly  suitor,  and,  seeing  you 
enter  so  unexpectedly  in  a  state 
of  unaccountable  horror  and  agi- 
tation, was  naturally  stricken  with 
dismay,  and  thought  she  saw  your 
ghost,  or,  what  was  worse,  a  possi- 
ble avenger ;  while  you,  having 
failed  to  kill  the  man  you  sought, 
and  having  killed  a  man  you  es- 
teemed, let  no  surprise  on  her  part 
lure  you  into  any  dangerous  self- 
betrayal.  You  strove  instead  to 
soothe  her,  and  even  attempted  to 
explain     the     excitement     under 


128        Cbe  Doctor,  bis  Mite 

which  you  labored,  by  an  account 
of  your  narrow  escape  at  the  sta- 
tion, till  the  sudden  alarm  from 
next  door  distracted  her  attention, 
and  sent  both  your  thoughts  and 
hers  in  a  different  direction.  Not 
till  conscience  had  fully  awakened 
and  the  horror  of  your  act  had  had 
time  to  tell  upon  your  sensitive 
nature,  did  you  breathe  forth  those 
vague  confessions,  which,  not  being 
supported  by  the  only  explana- 
tions which  would  have  made  them 
credible,  led  her,  as  well  as  the  po- 
lice, to  consider  you  affected  in 
your  mind.  Your  pride  as  a  man, 
and  your  consideration  for  her  as 
a  woman,  kept  you  silent,  but  did 
not  keep  the  worm  from  preying 
upon  your  heart. 

"  Am  I  not  correct  in  my  sur- 
mises, Dr.  Zabriskie,  and  is  not 
this  the  true  explanation  of  your 
crime  ?" 


ano  tbe  Clock  129 

With  a  strange  look,  he  lifted  up 
his  face. 

"Hush!"  said  he;  "you  will 
awaken  her.  See  how  peacefully 
she  sleeps  !  I  should  not  like  to 
have  her  awakened  now,  she  is  so 
tired,  and  I — I  have  not  watched 
over  her  as  I  should." 

Appalled  at  his  gesture,  his  look, 
his  tone,  I  drew  back,  and  for  a 
few  minutes  no  sound  was  to  be 
heard  but  the  steady  dip-dip  of  the 
oars  and  the  lap-lap  of  the  waters 
against  the  boat.  Then  there  came 
a  quick  uprising,  the  swaying  be- 
fore me  of  something  dark  and  tall 
and  threatening,  and  before  I  could 
speak  or  move,  or  even  stretch 
forth  my  hands  to  stay  him,  the 
seat  before  me  was  empty  and 
darkness  had  filled  the  place  where 
but  an  instant  previous  he  had  sat, 
a  fearsome  figure,  erect  and  rigid 
as  a  sphinx. 


130       Cbe  Doctor,  bis  ICUfe 

What  little  moonlight  there  was 
only  served  to  show  us  a  few  rising 
bubbles,  marking  the  spot  where 
the  unfortunate  man  had  sunk  with 
his  much-loved  burden.  We  could 
not  save  him.  As  the  widening 
circles  fled  farther  and  farther  out, 
the  tide  drifted  us  away,  and  we 
lost  the  spot  which  had  seen  the 
termination  of  one  of  earth's  sad- 
dest tragedies. 

The  bodies  were  never  recov- 
ered. The  police  reserved  to  them- 
selves the  right  of  withholding 
from  the  public  the  real  facts 
which  made  this  catastrophe  an 
awful  remembrance  to  those  who 
witnessed  it.  A  verdict  of  acci- 
dental death  by  drowning  an- 
swered all  purposes,  and  saved  the 
memory  of  the  unfortunate  pair 
from  such  calumny  as  might  have 


ano  tbe  Clock  131 

otherwise  assailed  it.  It  was  the 
least  we  could  do  for  two  beings 
whom  circumstances  had  so  greatly 
afflicted. 

THE   END. 


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